Rated M for strong and offensive language
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist…and I bet there are a lot of people who are glad about that.
The first thing Ed was aware of when he woke was the feeling of skin pressed against his own, sending waves of warmth through him. Eyes still closed, he ran his left hand over the bare back of the young woman he knew lay atop him, marveling that he felt no pain in his shoulder as he did so. Maybe he was still too asleep to really notice the pain. He felt her breath on his chest and opened his eyes, looking down at the mass of untidy black hair. Tilting his head slightly, Edward looked down at Akume's peacefully sleeping face.
He lifted himself on his metal arm, wrapping his left around her back and waist to keep her still so she didn't move and waken. Cocking his head, he looked at her. Her bangs were in her face; he wanted to brush them away, but that would mean he'd have to either take his arm from around her waist or lay back down. Naw, that was okay, the bangs added to her features. She looked so beautiful like that, so peaceful…quite unlike her red-faced yelling self. Who knew someone so volatile could look so angelic?
She groaned and moved, adjusting her position and Edward lay back down. Akume moaned again and changed position. Edward smiled and closed his eyes, intent on going back to sleep. Why bother to wake her? They both needed their rest after all. Of course, they both needed a doctor, but in order to reach one they needed to be rested. What was another ten minutes? After all, they were safe here.
He heard something cough from above him. His brow furrowed, but he brushed the sound off. He was imagining things. Then he heard it again. Opening his eyes, Edward looked up and almost wet himself.
"Comfortable, Full Metal?"
"Aaaahhhhhh!"
Edward shot up, eyes wide and his breath coming out in quick gasps. Pain laced down his arm and back and he winced, clutching at his shoulder, teeth gritted in pain. He tried to calm himself down. What the hell was Mustang doing here? How'd he find them? Oh, shit, he was dead meat! Crap…crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!
He didn't notice that Akume had somehow disappeared.
Edward felt a hand on his back and went stiff.
"Full Metal?"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Edward yelled, trying to turn around and scrambled away at the same time. All he managed to do was get tangled up in his coat and fall onto his back hard, jarring his shoulder, opening the wound, making it bleed again, causing the bandage to redden even more. His vision was cloudy for a moment before it started to clear on a pale white face with black hair. Edward whimpered. Shit, shit, shit….
"OW!"
Something cold, hard, and metallic slapped him across the face. He heard a thud as something fell to the ground and an 'oof' and gasp of pain. Edward lay there for a moment then pushed himself up, wincing. He looked around the cave. The fire was blazing and by it were two flat rocks with some fruit and bread on them. To his right he saw Akume leaning against the wall, holding her side and chest, a pain expression on her face.
"Akume?"
"What?", she snapped.
"Where's the Colonel?"
"What are you talking about?" she snapped again, eyes closed, teeth gritted.
"I mean…I saw him…he was just here and…." He trailed off then said lamely, "I was…dreaming…wasn't I?"
Akume opened her eyes and glared at him, "No shit Sherlock. Argh, what is your problem? You scared me half to death. I thought you were in death spasms or something."
Ed blinked, "You thought I was…dying?"
"Yes…" she pushed away from the wall and crawled over to the fire, stopping before on of the rocks and adjusting herself. She waved for him to come over. "I fixed breakfast."
Ed frowned, "You should have woken me."
Akume gave him a look. "I tried. You sleep like a boulder."
"Isn't the term 'like a log'?"
"Not with you it isn't. A log you can at least move. You wouldn't budge." What she didn't add was that he'd looked so damn cute she hadn't tried very hard to wake him up. Though it had hurt a lot, moving about as she'd done, feeding the fire and making breakfast, she'd let him sleep just so she could look at him every so often and not worry about him catching her or seeing a blush.
Edward came over, sitting down, rubbing his shoulder and dug in without a word. Akume didn't eat as fast as he did; each time she swallowed it hurt, so she sat around her food protectively lest the Bottomless Pit decided she didn't need her food. Edward watched her out of the corner of his eye, noting that she only had her coat on. He glanced away quickly so she couldn't see him go red. He waited until he heard her finish before looking over and clearing his throat, "Do, how are you feeling?"
"Awful," she said. "I hurt all over and these cuts are burning."
Edward turned and grabbed their shirts carefully with his left hand. He tossed Akume's over and pulled off his coat. Akume followed suit, pulling her coat off, but getting the shirt on was hard. It required far too much movement and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out, but the squeezing tight of her eyelids didn't stop her eyes from watering. Damn…it hurt.
Edward stood and came over, kneeling. Without a word, he took her shirt and helped her get it on. It took awhile, since they both had to be careful of the other's wounds. Before long, they both had their shirts on and their coats, only for Edward to rub his shoulder and remark, "You know…we should have changed our bandages first."
Akume snorted, "You wanna get these back off, be my guest, but I'm not letting you touch me again.."
Edward frowned, "Well, that's nice. You didn't complain last night."
Akume went red, "What the hell are you talking about? If I'm not mistaken, I was unconscious last night, Edward. When one is out of it, one can't exactly complain."
Ed shrugged, then winced, telling himself that it was a bad idea to be shrugging anytime soon with his shoulder as red and pussy as it was. Of course, at the moment, he didn't yet know it was pussy, just that it really, really hurt and shrugging was a very bad idea. In all honesty, he really didn't care much about his shoulder; he was more concerned about Akume. She'd taken the brunt of the attack and those wounds. They'd looked awful last night; he could only imagine how they looked now. Hopefully better, but they hadn't had a whole lot of antiseptic to use. His shoulder was just throbbing now, and Akume said hers felt like they were burning.
The blond set about gathering up everything, stuffing it into Akume's pack. The girl watched him for a moment, then, biting down on her lip, started to cover the fire with dirt to put it out. Edward gathered everything, tossing the bag outside. Grunting and cursing, he lifted Akume up by her armpits, throwing her arm around his neck as he supported her. The fire was still smoldering.
"Edward, I wasn-"
He cut her off, "Don't worry about it. I'm going to put this hill back the way it was."
"Oh."
Edward guided her to a tree, then went back and clapped his hands and then put the hill back in its original state. The boy patted the earth, as if thanking it for suffering them, letting them take refuge for the night in an alchemy made cave. Ed then picked up the bag and slung it over his metal shoulder. He looked at Akume as she leaned next to a tree and frowned, "Well, I guess we're walking. Can you manage that?"
"No," the girl said and pushed off from the tree. Edward caught her before she fell flat on her face. Akume grunted and got her balance, pulling away from her partner, "I can walk on my own, Edward. Follow me. We aren't walking."
Rolling his eyes and sighing in irritation, he followed her to the water's edge. Akume walked into the water, then pulled herself over the tree that lay half in, half out of the water. She motioned for Edward to come over then gestured proudly to the raft that bobbed on the other side. Edward could have hit himself. Why hadn't he thought of that? Drifting down the river would be much faster than walking.
"When did you make that? How did you make that?"
"This morning with a few fallen logs, some other stuff, a lot of patience, time, and a dab of alchemy."
He glared, "Some logs? You should have woken me to help."
"I told you I tried to wake you, but you sleep sounder than the dead. Besides, what's done is done and now we can get back to town faster and not get lost this time."
Edward sighed and slipped over the log onto the raft. He set the pack down and helped Akume on, making her lay down with her head on the bag. She didn't look very happy, but Ed was leaving no room for argument. She kept calling him 'Edward' and he was starting to wonder if he had been imagining things last night. He tried to tell himself it didn't matter; after all, he and Akume had hated each other since they'd first met. No, no that wasn't true. He didn't really hate her and she'd told him she didn't really hate him. She liked him, but was afraid. Edward looked over at her; relieved to see her eyes were closed. He turned away, clapping his hands and then to the ground, making his trademark spear. It wouldn't be seeing battle this time, just the bottom of the river.
Shoving off, Edward sat down, using the spear to guide them around rocks as they made their way swiftly down the river, pulled by the fast current. It would slow at some point, he knew. Where he and Akume had eaten lunch the day before, the river had been calm and smooth. Once they made it to that spot, they could find their way out with relative ease and get to a doctor.
He looked back and groaned. He shifted a few inches backward. Akume was sitting up, facing upriver. He poked her in the back, "Hey; you should be resting."
Akume snorted, "I'm watching."
"For what? Those things aren't going to come after us."
"I'm not watching for them. I'm just watching; keeping my mind off things."
"Oh…well…if you lie down we could talk."
"I'd rather sit up."
Edward sighed, "Akume; you're hurt. You did all this work earlier, you need to lie down and rest. That chimera did a number on you and-"
She turned, snapping, "You're hurt too! If anyone should be lying down, its you." She grabbed for the spear, but Edward pulled it out of her reach, making her frown and growl, "Give me that!"
"No! You are going to lie down!"
"I will not! You need to rest; give me the damn pole!"
"Lay down!"
"No!"
"Akume…" Edward said warningly.
"Edward…" Akume snarled back. She surged forward, reaching for the spear, while Edward tried to dodge, holding the spear out and away. Akume's head spun. She missed Ed and fell face first onto the raft. She groaned and Edward knelt beside her, wincing as pain ran through his arm, shoulder, and back. He put a hand on her back.
"Akume?"
"Leave me alone, Elric."
He rolled his eyes, sighing in irritation. Back to surnames again? Fine. Two could play at that game. "As long as you stay right there, I will, Hunter."
Akume grunted and rolled carefully onto her back. "I'm sorry."
Edward went back to steering the raft, "About what?"
"If I hadn't been so angry and paid more attention, none of this would have happened."
Edward rolled his eyes, "Oh please don't start that crap. What happened happened and the only person or persons to blame is the one or ones that made those things."
"But-"
"But nothing, now shut up."
Akume bit her lip, closed her eyes, and said softly, "I'm still sorry."
"So am I…."