Author's Notes -

Thanks to those who have been following the story so far. It's nice to see people reading the story and giving reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

NOTE – I do not own Sister Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist.

Chapter 4 – Look for the Philosopher's Stone!

It was very clear to the brothers that their "sisters" care about them. Although they do not know them well enough, they wanted to protect them from danger. Alphonse has already accepted them as his little sisters, but not the same for Edward. He wondered why 13 young girls would have the same brother, would also know that he was coming to Promised Island. He though to himself alone in his room.

"What's the deal with the girls here? I'm not sure if they are my real sisters at all, but they all seem to care about me even though I don't care for them often. Maybe if I looked for the stone, I would have all the answers. Al seems to like them a lot. He even helped Shirayuki with dinner while I was gone. On top of that, what's with this island? There seems to be some things that I don't about. And then there's Mami. She seems to spy on me and Al often. She probably knows something about the Philosopher's Stone. I wonder where Al is right now..."

After a moment of rest, Edward got up and out of his room to look for his brother, Alphonse. He realized that he slept in very late today, so he went to the dining room to see if his breakfast was already cold. He saw Mamaru nearby doing some exercises outside. She spotted Edward and entered the dining room a few moments later. "Hey, Big Bro! Why did you wake up so early?" the young girl asked.

"I don't know. I guess I've had a bad sleep, that's all."

"Little Bro is outside if you want to see him. You should go out and exercise with me sometime, Big Bro. It's a real drag doing the workout by myself."

"Sure, one day I will. Have you seen the girls?"

"They're getting ready to leave soon. Today's the first day of school."

"That's right. It's too bad Al and I won't go with all of you."

"That's true, but at least we spend a lot of time at home."

As the two siblings continued their conversation, Haraka walked into the dining room. "Good morning my Beloved Brother. Are you doing well?"

"Hi Haraka," Edward said. "I'm doing fine. Are you girls ready to go to school yet?"

"Almost. Rin Rin's been keeping us waiting with her latest invention. Would you go and tell her it's almost time to go?"

"Yeah, sure."

Edward went upstairs to Rin Rin's room, but found out that she wasn't anywhere to be found. He looked around for a while, and accidentally hit an object that opened up a new passageway. He saw a hallway that lead to another room. He walked to the other room, and saw the young inventor working on an invention. "Hi, Rin Rin. The sisters are waiting for you, you know," Edward said.

"Hi, Bro! I'm almost finished here. I want to show you the new invention I've been working on."

"Uh, all right."

Edward waited for a few moments, and then was amazed at what she created. "Thanks for waiting, Bro!" Rin Rin said. "This is Mecha Rin Rin. Isn't she great?"

"She's name after you? What is this? Some kind of machine?"

"That's right. Her main job is to guard the house in case of trouble, but since there's rarely any kind of problems here at the island, her job is to help out around the house."

Edward was still wondering why the machine was named after her. It didn't look much like her other than the goggles on its head and the flower on top. More importantly, he was amazed that such a young girl was able to make something this massive. "It looks very nice, Rin Rin," Edward said. "But it's time to go to school now. You don't want to keep the girls waiting."

She signed, "All right. I'll show you how the invention works after school, Bro. See you later!"

Edward got out of her a few moments later. He now remembered that he was suppose to look for his brother, Alphonse a while ago. He went outside to find his brother talking with the sisters. Alphonse said, "Hi, Ed. You woke up pretty late today."

"Yeah," the short alchemist said. "I was just talking to Rin Rin earlier."

Edward and Alphonse were then interrupted by Karen. "Good Morning, Big Brother," she said. "Today is our first day of school. Be sure to watch the house until we get back, all right?"

"That's right, Dear Brother," Sakuya said. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to you while we are out."

"Uh, thanks..."

All twelve sisters have said their goodbyes to Edward and Alphonse and left to go to the school. The Elric Brothers couldn't believe it. They are now alone in the house, with no one to disturb them. It's been a week now since they arrived at Promised Island. A lot has happened during that time; the encounter with the sisters, the search for the Philosopher's Stone, and the battle with Ron Spike, who was also after the stone as well until he left the island. They were also trying to spend time with all their little sisters. They didn't have much time for themselves. In any case, they were glad to be alone now. "Edward?" Alphonse said. "Since the girls are gone now, I think we should try looking for the stone again."

"Can we do it later? Right now, I just want to relax for a while. It's been crazy the past week, you know."

"Yeah, I know. We haven't had a lot of time looking for the stone since that incident the other day. Well, I'll go on ahead. I need to buy something anyway."

"All right, Al. See you later."

Alphonse left a few moments later. Edward was alone in the enormous house. He felt lonely because there wasn't anyone who was here. He went outside to check the mail, but didn't have anything today. "I wonder if Winry is writing to me. She must be worried about me right now," he thought. He went back inside to his room, and rested for a while.

Meanwhile, the sisters are getting adjusted to the new school that they are staying at. Shirayuki woke up early to make lunch for everyone. Everyone got different classes like Literature, Fitness, and Mathematics. There was also a music class which Karen has as she plays the piano. However, all of them were all thinking about their brothers rather than their studies. Yamada was also there as well, hoping that he would get a cute girlfriend this year. He noticed that the 12 girls that are together most of the time were related to each other. Hinako and Aria are in the same school as well, which was odd to the brothers because they are younger than the other sisters, who looked like they are about 15 or 16 years old.

Alphonse went to the town to look for the stone. He didn't notice anything odd, which was normal, as the brothers didn't have any luck with the stone since the encounter with Ron Spike. He gave up and went back home to meet with Edward. However, as he started to walk in that direction, he spotted a man who was staring at him. The man saw Alphonse staring at him, and started him. Alphonse yelled, "Hey, wait a minute! What do you want from me?" He started chasing the man.

Edward woke up, and went outside to see if there was any mail for him. There was a letter there, but did not have an address on it. He wondered if the letter was delivered to the wrong person. He went inside to read it, and was confused at what it said:

To anyone who is reading this letter,

You do not need to know who I am. It does not matter to you, but what does matter is the Philosopher's Stone. I've seen it for myself, and it does exist in this world. However the whereabouts of where the stone is now are still unknown. I can tell you that it's worthless trying to find it. It will only bring fear and chaos to those who want to use its power.

There was no name on the letter or an address. Edward wasn't sure if he believed the letter or not, but he knew that he had to be careful. There were other people looking for the stone as well, and if it were to fall for the wrong hands, he would be in big trouble. He hid the letter in his pocket, and went to look for Alphonse.

Alphonse lost sight of the man a few moments later. Seeing as he was a metal suit of armor, he was too slow to catch up with him. He gave up and decided to go back home with Edward. However, he found his brother just as he was about to leave. "Hey, Ed!" Alphonse yelled. "I thought you were still taking a nap."

"Yeah, well I decided to walk around the town for a while," the alchemist said.

"Say, Ed. You wouldn't happen to see a man running a while ago, did you?"

"No. Why do you ask that?"

"He saw me like he was worried about me or something. When I asked him what was wrong, he ran away."

"Huh. Well don't worry about that. I got a letter from someone. It's about the stone."

"Really?" Alphonse said excitedly. "Did it say where the it is?"

"No. It just said that it contains evil to those who use it."

"I see. Al, let's go see how the sisters are doing, OK?"

"But Ed, I thought you didn't believe that those girls are your sisters."

"Of course not. I'm just a little worried about them, that's all."

Alphonse laughed. "All right, Ed. Let's go."

The Elric brothers went to the school, and asked the various classmates where their sisters were. All of them were having lunch at this hour, so the brothers went out into the courtyard to see if they were there. Edward and Alphonse split up to cover more ground in their search. Edward was looking around in the track field when he bumped into Mamaru, who was doing her exercises. "Hey there, Big Bro!" she said.

"Hi, Mamoru. Why aren't you eating your lunch?"

"I already did. I always do a jog after I finish eating."

"Isn't that bad for your body, though?"

"No. Besides, I do it all the time. Hey, don't you want to jog with me?"

"Thanks, but I'm tired from walking already," he lied.

"You should work out more, Big Bro. Then you can come with me every morning to jog."

"Yeah. Someday."

Alphonse was looking around when he saw Haraka from behind. She was sitting on the bottom of the stairway. She then saw him and said, "Hello, my Little Beloved Brother. It's nice to see you. How is your day going so far?"

Alphonse replied, "Fine. Ed and I were worried about you and the sisters, so we went to school to check on you girls."

Meanwhile, Edward went inside the building to find the other sisters. He then thought to himself, "What am I doing here? I should looking for the stone. I don't think Al made me come here, so why did I want to look for the sisters?" He wasn't able to accept the fact that he had a lot of younger sisters. He went to different rooms to see if anyone was there. He saw Hinako and Aria in the same classroom. He didn't want to bother them because they were in the middle of listening to their teacher.

Edward went outside, and saw Kaho practicing for an after school event. "Hey, Brother!" she yelled. She went to see Edward for a few moments. "I've been practicing during lunch. I'm still bad at it, but I'll be sure to do my best to cheer for you, Brother!"

"That's strange," Edward said. "It's the first day of school, and you're already practicing?"

The young girl already left to join the others. She tripped as she started to practicing, and gave Edward a smile before he left.

Edward was surprisingly greeted by Yotsuba, who said, "Check it out!"

"Uh, check what out?" the confused alchemist asked.

"Everything!"

Just then, Yamada decides to join in. "Well, hello there, little girl!" he said. "Would you like to jump rope with me?"

"Whoa!" Edward yelled. "I didn't expect to see you here, Yamada."

"Hello, Ed. I wasn't expecting you either. I'd stay and chat with you, but I'm busy at the moment."

"Uh, sure..."

A few hours have passed, and school was already over. Edward went to look for his brother, but found Karen and Sakuya instead. "Hello, Big Brother," Karen. "Did you decide to come here after all?"

"Well, Al and I wanted to make sure that you girls were doing all right. We didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Of course we're doing all right, silly Dear Brother," Sakuya said.

"Oh. Well, shall we go home, then?"

"Yes," Karen said. "It's my turn to cook anyway."

Alphonse was the last one to leave the school, when he happen to find Hinako waiting to him outside. She said, "I've been waiting here for a long time, Young Bro Bro."

"So you have. Well, I guess I can walk you home then. It's getting late."

After a while, Aria starts to come to Alphonse. "Mon Petit Frère. Wait," the soft spoken girl said.

"Aria. You're here as well." She then went and held on to Alphonse's hand.

"Hey no fair!" Hinako yelled. "I want to hold his hand too! Young Bro Bro, can I please hold your hand?"

"Of course you can," Alphonse replied.

As the three are walking home, the two girls notice that Alphonse's hands are very cold because of the armor. Two young men who were working noticed Alphonse and his little sisters and said, "Man, you are so lucky! You must be totally popular!" Alphonse was a little embarrassed from that, but kept going so that he can see Edward.

Edward was waiting outside for Alphonse. "I wonder what's taking Al so long? He needs to help out and cook dinner soon." A few moments later, he was able to see Alphonse walking with Hinako and Aria. He said to him, "Hey Al! You need to make dinner today! I'm starving here."

Alphonse said, laughing, "OK, Ed. It'll be ready soon."

Everyone had a great dinner. For Edward and Alphonse, it was like being with a family again, before their mother died, and their father left them. For a moment, they forgot the fact that these girls might not be their little sisters. The Elric brothers were finished from the dinner, and helped out cleaning the house.

After a while, the two brothers went outside the house to get some fresh air from the day at school. They did not see, however, the man that was watching them from far. Why is he keeping an eye on the brothers? That didn't matter to them, though. What mattered right now, is that Edward and Alphonse now had a family that they call their own. It doesn't matter if they are their real sisters or not. What mattered was that they were accepted as a part of their family.

Next Chapter: Edward is used for an experiment performed by Rin Rin. However, things go wrong with the project, and a new alchemist is created. Can Edward stop it from destroying the island? Also, Edward goes more into the mysteries of his younger sisters. What is really going on here? Find out in the next chapter: Fullmetal Alchemist Against Fullmetal Rin Rin!