zago- hey again! i'm happy to say that all pink hippos have now been...uh...relocated...--'...and i'm free to start updating more often! huzzah for me! not so much for you!

legal crap- i don't own fma. otherwise ed would loose his shirt a LOT more often.

warning- donot read this quiz if youdo not like cussing and have no appreciation for humor. there's a lotof both. hopefullly.

-----Part 4 Assasins to Ashes-----

Recap- Al found out that you were a girl, but told Ed you were a boy who's name was "Akaro." You found out that the two knew how to find Roy and Ed was asking why he'd never heard of your father when...

Start- You all heard yelling. Looking around, you saw town people coming out of their homes, staring at the scene in front of them. They're faces looked confused.

Heck, I'd be confused to you thought to yourself. A dead body, a guy with a bloody leg and a giant man of armor? That's not quite the same as looking at turnips all day

"Hey Al, maybe we should go..." you heard Ed say softly.

"But what about Ak-Akaro's father? We can't just leave him in the street like this!" Al replied. You didn't look at him, but inside you were shocked. These guys didn't even know Hojo, and yet they were trying to save him!

Your thoughts were interrupted by the murmuring of the crowd.

"Is that Hojo?" one asked.

"Who are the other people?" asked another.

"Isn't that Hojo's kid?"

"Why is he in town? Did he kill Hojo?"

"Yeah, but who's the armor guy? I've never seen him or the blonde kid before..." this went on for a few minutes, and the longer it got, the more wrong the story became. Knowing that the people would gossip it out of proportion, you shouted,

"Hojo was assassinated by those two men!" Pointing at the killers, you paled as you realized that the unconscious one had woken up...AND HAD STOLEN MR. BLOODY LEG'S GUN!

There were screams of terror as the assassin lifted the weapon, aiming at a random place in the crowd. p "DON'T!" you screamed, running towards him as fast as you could. You would NOT let these creeps kill anymore people! But you weren't going fast enough! Your eyes widened behind your sunglasses (yes, you're still wearing them. you'll have them on for a while...) as you saw his hand tense, getting ready to pull the trigger.

"Stop!" you yelled, reaching an arm out towards him. That's when it happened.

You could feel all of the anger and sadness boiling up inside of you, trying to get out. Before you knew what was going on, your had shined red for a moment before shooting a beam of red lightning towards the assassin. There was an explosion and a scream of pain, and when the smoke cleared, the only thing left of the assassin was a large black spot in the ground.

You stared at the spot the assassin had disappeared and then looked at your hands. They were shaking uncontrollably.

You felt a hand on your shoulder and turned to see Al looking down at you.

"Akaro...?" he asked softly. Your body shook as you looked back down at your hands.

"I-I killed him..." you said in shock. Al squeezed your shoulder.

"It's ok," He told you, "It'll be alright."

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" you heard someone yell. Looking up, you saw that the crowd of people was looking at you murderously.

"See that? An alchemist! Just like 'is father!" (yeah, everyone in town thinks your a guy)

"Hey! You think it's a military dog too?"

"Maybe he's the one whoo killed Hojo!"

"YEAH!"

"MURDERER!" every word was like a bullet in the gut.

Murderer... you thought slowly. Still trying to understand, you didn't notice that the people were getting closer until Al shook you.

"Akaro! Snap out of it! We have to move!" he yelled at you. Looking up, you saw that the town people were approaching quickly, rage in their eyes. Stumbling backwards, you almost fell, but felt a pair of strong arms wrap around your stomach, keeping you up.

Arching your neck upwards, you saw two golden eyes staring down at you.

"You heard Al! Let's go!" Ed yelled at you and started dragging you away, not waiting for a response. You let him, still trying to figure out what to do. You were rocked back to your senses by the sight of Hojo's body.

Stopping abruptly, you told Ed, "I'm not leaving his body to that mob!" Ed just stared.

"What do you want to do then? Take it with us? We can't do that!"

"Yes you can." came a voice from in front of you.

"Rolan!" you yelled, seeing the familiar large blacksmith.

"Go back to my workshop." he said quietly. "I'll get your father's body back to his house and bury him there. You can visit the grave after the people stop looking for you." he said quietly.

"But-"

"GO!" he told you. Nodding, you ran into a narrow alley and headed towards Rolan's house. It wasn't until you were at he front door that you realized that Ed and Al had followed you.

"What're you-"

"Just get inside!" yelled Ed. Shaking your head, you quickly opened the door and headed inside. Sitting on a chair, you stared at the floor.

Hmm...let's go over what's happened today you told yourself.

Number One: Dad went missing, then was killed by assassins.

Number Two: kicked the "ass" out of the assassins, but got struck by lightning.

Number Three: Dad gave me weird letter.

Number four: Met armor-man and blondey, a.k.a. Al and Ed.

And number five: The town thinks I murdered my own father.

Yeah, not exactly how I planned to spend my day

"Akaro?" you heard. Looking up, you saw Ed sitting on a chair nearby, his golden eyes a bit worried.

"What?" you said. Normally, it would have been a snappy answer, but it came out slightly dull and lifeless. Too much had happened. Way too much.

Ed looked at you for a moment longer before asking, "How did you do that light thing? It was alchemy, but you didn't use a transmutation circle..."

You opened your mouth to answer and closed it, frowning. How did do that? you thought. Unless- your mind did a sudden flashback of the lightning striking you.

Was that it? you thought. You hung your head. You wished Hojo was here. You'd never needed help in alchemy more than now, just when he wasn't here to help.

"Akaro, didn't you say something about a letter to Roy?" asked Al. You knew that he was probably just trying to get our mind off of things, but it did remind you that you had a promise to forfill. You nodded and looked up at Al.

"Yeah, Hojo wanted me to deliver a letter to him...I should probably do it as soon as possible."

"If it really is for the Roy we know, why don't we just take it? He's been bugging us on giving a report anyway..." asked Ed, a bit annoyed with the thought of visiting Roy. You shook your head.

"No, I have to take it myself." You said forcefully. Ed looked surprised.

"Why? It's not like we'll steal it..." he said.

"It's not that." You told him. "Hojo spent his last moments telling me to do this. So there's no way in hell I'm handing this letter over unless it's to this Roy guy."

Ed stared at you a bit longer before standing and pacing around the shop, asking you more questions as he walked.

"Who was the guy in the alley?" he asked.

"Who, Rolan? He's a blacksmith. He makes farm tools for me and Hojo."

"Farm tools?"

"Yeah, Hojo owns a farm on the outside of town. Past the forest."

"Why do you keep calling him Hojo instead of dad?"

"Brother!" Al suddenly interrupted. Ed looked at Al as he jerked his head in your direction. Ed glanced at you and quickly away.

"Sorry, guess you don't really want to talk about it..." said Ed. (ironic how that rhymes)

"Whatever." You said, a little attitude back in your voice.

Who the heck are these people? you asked yourself. Al's okay, but Ed's beginning to get on my nerves. Asking questions one minute and then treating me like a pathetic kid the next

Outloud, you said, "Rolan sure is taking a while, my house isn't THAT far away."

"Maybe we should just go then?" asked Al. For a minute you wanted to jump up and do just that, but held yourself back.

"No, people around here will pretty much want to kill me if they think I'm a murderer. They'll probably check my house first."

"Jeez, is it really that bad here?" asked Ed.

Great, more questions you thought scornfully.

"Yeah, they're pretty narrow-minded. If you're even a little different, you're either a freak or a criminal, usually both." you said, your voice cracking a bit. "That's why Hojo wanted a house far away, he wanted to protect the village from the State Alchemist stuff."

And to protect me from the village you thought, but didn't dare say it outloud. p Just then, the door opened to reveal...

"Rolan! About time!" you said. He simply shrugged.

"I had to hide out in the woods so that the villagers wouldn't find me." he told you.

"So they did look in my house! If they stole anything-" you started angrily, but Rolan held up a hand to stop you.

"Calm down Aka, they were only looking for you. I doubt they would steal from a dead man." he said calmly.

"Yeah right..." you muttered. Looking Rolan in the eye, you said,

"I'm taking a trip. Hojo asked me to do something, and I'm not coming back until I do it. But I need to go to my house before I leave."

Rolan stared at you for a few moments, then smiled.

"Leaving right away just because Hojo asked? He would be proud." He told you. "I'll help you get back into your house. But how are you going to get out to town? Villagers will be blocking the exits..." he trailed off.

"Leave that to us!" said Ed. You gave him a questioning look, but he just waved a hand at you.

"Go get your stuff, we'll meet you near the train station in an hour. Let's go Al!" he said.

"Comimg Brother!" answered Al. You watched as they warily stepped outside and ran around the corner.

What are they doing? you wondered. They better be right, they're my only ticket out of this hellhole...

"We should hurry Aka, the longer we stay here, the more likely you'll be found." you heard Rolan say. Nodding at him, you exited the shop from the back door and headed for the forest...

Part 4 end!

and so, the story continues (after much wait on some lazy writer's ass) but what will happen next? will aka get caught trying to break into her own house? will ed and al be able to find a way for aka to get out of town? do you even care that i'm asking these questions?...don't answer that. till the next time i get off my lazy ass!

-zago