"Are you awake?"

Kirina opened her eyes and sat up. She looked down at the little girl who had asked her the question.

"Yes, I am, Elicia," she responded.

"Do you know that Ed looked sad yesterday?"

"Sad? Why?"

Elicia shrugged. "Come on. Let's go and eat breakfast."

Kirina had been asked to stay with the Hughes family. Yesterday already seemed a distant memory. Who had been that strange boy who had called her such an odd word?

"Good morning, Mrs. Hughes," she said, sitting down at the table.

Gracia gave her a sort of weak smile. "Good morning, Kimiya. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did."

"Well, you better hurry. You should've been to work nearly a half hour ago."

Noticing the strange look on her face, Gracia said, "You work as a State Alchemist, honey."

Kirina looked down at the bowl of porridge. "I see. Well, I better go then."

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"No. Thank you, though."

Elicia watched Kirina leave. After she left, she turned to Gracia and said, "Mommy, she looks just like the sad boy."

"Sad boy? What sad boy?"

"Ed. I saw him through the window. He was sitting in a car. Why are they sad? Did they have a fight?"

Gracia smiled a small smile. "You heard your daddy yesterday, didn't you? Kimiya doesn't remember a lot of things."

"She remembered me."

"Yes, but she doesn't remember Ed. That's why they're sad."

"Oh. Well, maybe she should try to remember."

"I'm sure she's trying very hard to remember."

Ed buried his face in a book as Kirina walked into the library. Al noticed this.

"Brother, why won't you look at her?" he asked. "She's still the same person."

"No she's not. She's Kimiya, not Kirina," Ed snapped. "Get that through to your steel brain."

"Is something wrong?" Kirina asked, walking over to them. "Oh, you're the little boy I saw yesterday."

Ed frowned. "Don't call me little boy that I still belong in preschool! I'm fifteen!"

Kirina smiled. "Hey, we're the same age."

"We're not the same age."

"Yes, we are! My birthday was yesterday."

"Just get out of here."

"Brother, don't be so rude," Al said.

"Rude!" Ed pointed to Kirina. "She's the one calling me short!"

"Maybe you should spend more time trying to grow instead of yelling at others," Kirina said, patting Ed's head. "Otherwise, you'll stay short forever."

"Let me add more synonyms," Ed said slowly, his face red with anger. "Short, small, petit, tiny, midget, dwarf, miniature, squat, diminutive, undersized. Am I missing one, Kimiya?"

"Gnome? Little? Itty-bitty?"

"That's it! I'm outta here."

Ed stood up and ran out of the library. Kirina turned to Al.

"I didn't mean to hurt his feelings," she said softly.

"It's all right. Ed's just mad because he thinks you don't remember him."

"But it's true. I don't remember him at all. Were we friends or something?"

Al nodded. Kimiya bowed her head with shame.

"Oh, no. I must've mad him fell horrible then."

"It's not your fault. You couldn't help regaining your memories."

Kirina looked up. "It is my fault," she whispered and left.

Kirina ran down the hall. She stopped when she heard someone mention the name Ed had called her. She paused outside a slightly open door and listened.

"Ed left already?"

"Yeah. He went to visit Dr. Marcoh."

Dr. Marcoh? Kirina thought.

She listened intently as they described the town and the best way to get there. Kirina left and ran toward the train station.

I highly apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused anybody during the absence of this fanfic. I'm updating at school, so a lot of words are censored (Sorry!). I hate censoring, but I really don't want to get in trouble, so it must be done. Although I think it's ridiculous, because we read books at school with curse words. Supposedly, those are okay because the characters really would say those words. And we all know Ed would really say a certain word that means someone born out of wedlock because he's said it like a million times! J This fanfic might have to go on hiatus again!