Hi all!

I hope everyone likes this chapter. It's the longest one yet and quite possibly the longest all together. For those of you out there griping that my chapters are too short, no offence intended, this chapter I am dedicating to you.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Thanks to my reviewers: Anicka, loyalsoul, Dailenna, Simply Chris, Chachamaru15, bohemianwriterredroses, Fullmetalfan, FruitsBasketFreak44, dingi, kenzigirl, theslayerslayer, horsehearted15, words without and Jessia

Cookies and Muffins for all! cookies and muffins fly dramatically out of no where and into reviewers hands and mouths

bohemianwriterredroses: Here's a few extra cookies for you seeing as you did actually share the cookies. They're triple fudge with three kinds of chocolate. hands over 3 cookies

Just a note, this chapter is really light-hearted and humorous. Thought it was needed in such angsty piece.

Chapter 7

The Klutz with Important Information

The young woman ran as fast and hard as she could. She had received her orders to deliver important information and she would be damned if she didn't fulfil her orders.

She ran full pelt past the military's 12 warehouses, past warehouse A and B and past the old parade grounds. She ran past several officers and other people who worked on the grounds. A few of them looked at her strange, but she didn't notice. She was used to getting odd looks.

It was times like these she was glad she always made the effort to keep herself fit and in shape.

She ran around a few corners and onto the parade grounds where there were several groups of high ranking officials doing various jobs or having discussions.

As she continued to run she saw a couple of soldiers that she knew and heard the name of the man she was searching out come up.

She tried to stop, but ended up skidding past them.

She spun around mid-skid and ended up facing the direction she had just come from. Unfortunately, in doing so she didn't see the chair behind her and skidded into it. She landed in a seated position in the chair but her momentum sent the chair toppling backwards.

"Whoa!" she shrieked.

As she lay there with every single officer on the grounds or surrounding area (most of them Colonel or above) staring at her, she happened to think that it was a good thing that she wore the pant uniform instead of the skirt uniform. This would've been even more embarrassing if she had been wearing the skirt.

When the shock from her fall dissipated, everyone who saw it started to laugh, instantly recognizing who the woman must be by her very unique features.

Everyone continued to laugh but went back to what they were doing.

The young woman heard two chuckling men coming towards her.

"Jeez," one of them said as they approached her "You've outdone yourself this time."

The one that had spoken had auburn hair and blue eyes. He was a Sergeant. The other man with him was a Sergeant Major. He had brown hair and kind chocolate brown eyes. Both were smiling broadly and had a twinkle in their eyes that made the young woman think that they weren't going to let her live this down for a while.

"Look, you can tease me after you help me up," she said huffily as she folded her arms over her chest.

The two men chuckled. "I dunno…" the Sergeant said.

When the young woman managed to kick them both in the side, they sobered up and squatted on either side of her.

They each placed one hand on her forearm and the other on her upper arms. They hefted her up and the woman was soon standing.

As she dusted herself off, the Sergeant Major, whom she secretly had a crush on, decided to tease her a little.

"I can't believe they let you in the military. You're a major klutz," he laughed.

The Sergeant laughed as well.

"Corporal Klutz, thank you very much," she said as she tapped her epaulettes "Though I can't say I protest to the field promotion," She winked "And what do you mean, you can't believe they let me into the military? They let him in didn't they?" she jerked her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the laughing Sergeant behind her.

"Ha ha, guess you're right," the Sergeant Major replied, chuckling started anew.

"Ha – Hey! Whadda ya mean by that!" the Sergeant screeched indignantly.

They ignored him. A few seconds later he gave up on getting an answer and spoke again.

"So kid, what're you running for this time? You know you plus running equals disasters," the red-haired, grumpy, man asked.

"Hey! I wish you wouldn't call me kid. I'm only 3 years younger than you are!" she retorted, spinning around to face him.

"And I'm never gonna let you forget that," he said back with a smirk. "So I'll ask again, why the running?"

"I have important information for Lieutenant Colonel Mustang," she replied formally "Have you seen him? I heard you talking about him. That's why I stopped."

She glared at the Sergeant Major before he could comment on that. He shut his mouth. She could be scary.

"Oh, and here I thought you just wanted to see me," the Sergeant said feigning hurt, clutching his chest with both hands and closing his eyes dramatically.

"Oh get over it, Martin!" she snapped at the Sergeant.

"Ahem."

"Grr. Sergeant Green."

He smiled idiotically.

"He went in the direction of the main building. He had a few other people with them," the Sergeant Major replied.

The woman turned and smiled at him using her million dollar smile "Thank you, Mark."

He blushed slightly. He, secretly, reciprocated the 24 year old woman's feelings. Of course, neither was aware that the other felt the same way.

She stood at attention and faced both of them.

"Well, Sergeant Green, Sergeant Major Halaway, I best off if I'm to catch up to Mustang. You have been most helpful."

She then spun on her heel and took off running.

"Don't trip over any more chairs!" Mark called after her.

"Or crash into any Generals! ...Again!" Martin called out.

"Shut up!" she yelled back over her shoulder and gave them both a rather obscene hand gesture.

They laughed as she disappeared around a corner, and went back to what they had been doing.

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The woman raced as fast as she could in the direction of the main building. She rounded another corner and spotted the man she was trying to catch round a corner up ahead.

"Wait! Lieutenant Colonel Mustang! Sir!" she yelled as she too dashed around the corner, only to run into the chest of a man much taller than herself.

She landed on her ass. "Ow," she whimpered.

"Are you alright?" the man she'd run into asked as he offered an arm to help her up.

She grasped the proffered arm and allowed the man to help her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fi--" she cut herself off when she saw who she'd bumped in to. "Ah! Sir! I should be asking you that!" she exclaimed as she saluted the Fuhrer.

He saluted back and chuckled "I'm quite alright, thank you, Corporal."

They dropped the salutes.

"I'm sorry, sir. I was just trying to- I didn't see--" the Fuhrer cut her off by raising his hand.

"It doesn't matter. It was an accident," he told her "Why are you in such a hurry?"

She stood straight "I have important information to deliver to Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, sir."

"What information would that be?" he questioned.

"Ah!" she froze and bowed her head "I'm sorry, sir. I cannot tell you."

"Oh and why not?"

"Because I am under strict orders from General Hakuro to deliver this information to the Lieutenant Colonel and tell no one, no matter how high their rank, except him and only him. Even then, only in his office alone," she bowed her head deeper "There is a chance it could be leaked if I told anyone else. Of course, I'm sure the General would understand if you ordered me to tell you, sir. I don't think he anticipated me bumping into you."

He chuckled. Her head shot up in shock. She had not expected him to chuckle. Yell at her, maybe. Chuckle, no.

"No, no. It's quite alright. I'll just ask Hakuro myself," he said as he walked up next to her so that he was parallel with her. He placed a hand on her shoulder "You're good at following your orders. Not many people could've said what you just said to me." He moved a few paces past her after removing his hand. "You'd better get going if you want to catch him. I think he's on his way to the main building."

"Thank you, sir," the young female Corporal said after she turned around and was looking at the Fuhrer's back. She saluted him and turned around and took off running again.

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She managed to find Mustang again a few minutes later. He was just starting up the steps when she got to the courtyard.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mustang!" she hollered "Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, sir!"

He entered the building without hearing her.

"Dammit!" she cursed as she sped up "Lieutenant Colonel Mustang!"

She dashed up the stairs.

"Sir! Lieutenant Colonel Must- oof!" she crashed into the glass doors thoroughly startling the people in the foyer. She hadn't been paying attention to where the door was and hit it. She bounced off of it and was on her ass again.

Her naturally white hair fell about her shoulders and tumbled loose to its full length, about the middle of her back. It had fallen completely free of the tight, yet loose, bun she always wore it in; save for her bangs, which only reached her eyebrows.

"What is it with me and falling over today?" she muttered to herself.

"That looked painful," a young male voice from next to her said "Are you okay?" a white-gloved hand appeared in her line of sight.

She followed the arm up to the owner. The owner turned out to be a young boy who looked no older than 12 or 13 and was short, especially when compared to the suit of armour standing next to him. Apparently the boy hadn't hit his growth spurt yet.

He had blonde hair that was pulled back into a braid and he had golden eyes. He wore white gloves, a black shirt with a large zipper, black pants and black boots. Over all of this he wore a red coat.

The boy was looking over the woman. When she looked up, his eyes were drawn straight to hers. Her eyes were exactly the same colour red as his coat. He'd seen red eyes before, on Second Lieutenant Hawkeye and the man at the library, but not this particular shade. They were almost a blood red. It was eerie.

"Can I help you up?" he asked.

She nodded and grasped his hand. With his help, she was soon back on her feet…again.

The young woman didn't have to tilt her head down too far to look at the boy because she was only about 5 inches taller than him.

"I'm Edward Elric, the 'Fullmetal' Alchemist and this is my brother Al," Edward said.

"Hello," the suit of armour, Al, spoke politely.

"Ah!" she shrieked and jumped back a bit out of shock of hearing the armour speak. She recovered quickly.

"Fullmetal? Fullmetal?" she mumbled thoughtfully "That's right! Edward Elric, the 'Fullmetal' Alchemist, Age: 12, Height: 4'11", youngest ever to pass the State Alchemist Qualification Exam. You were involved in the 'Barry the Chopper' incident a few weeks ago."

"Uh…yeah," Ed replied, twitching angrily from having his height announced.

"Um? If you don't mind my asking, what's your name?" Al asked, changing the topic.

"Oh, I'm –"

At that exact moment a large truck drove by and honked its horn muting her response to everyone but Ed and Al.

"That's an unusual name," Ed stated.

"I know," she replied.

She breathed in deeply and caught the scent of something interesting wafting off of the two boys. She sniffed a few times, her face showing her puzzlement.

Ed and Al figured out what she was doing after a few moments of confusion.

"Not a word about the perfume," Ed growled, gritting his teeth. He'd gotten away from the Lieutenant Colonel unscathed, somehow, due to the fact that the man was distracted by something big.

"I was just going to ask why you smell like really sweet flowers," she said "It almost smells like you showered in Tutti Fruity Flower Passion. Both of you," she coughed. The smell was sickly sweet. (1)

"Yeah, I know," Ed said, annoyed, as he rubbed the back of his head. "We were getting some help from some of the female personnel to mask the leftover smell of a backfired stink bomb prank." He sighed "Second Lieutenant Hawkeye said that this was probably the only stuff that would work because it's so strong that even a woman who hasn't bathed in a month smells good with this crap on. I've been trying to find her to thank her for her help."

The young woman gasped.

"I have to run. I've gotta catch up with Lieutenant Colonel Mustang," she said hurriedly.

"Bastard," Ed muttered, clearly meaning Mustang.

"It was nice talking with you. I have to go now though. I have to deliver some important information to the Lieutenant Colonel," she turned and grasped the door handle. She opened the door and started to walk in. She stopped just inside the door, confusing the two boys. "I wouldn't worry about your height. My little brother was the same height as you when he was your age. Now he's 20 and 6'3"."

She walked away without waiting for any kind of response. The door closed behind her.

The two boys watched as she took off running again once she was across the foyer and out of sight of the receptionist. She even looked around to make sure no one was watching.

Before thy walked away, Ed noticed two black chopsticks on the ground. He picked them up and showed them to Al.

"Don't these belong to…?"

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She bolted down the halls as fast as she could.

Finally, she rounded a corner and spotted Mustang.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mustang!" she shouted "Sir!"

This time he heard her, stopped and turned around and saw her running towards him, slowing as she neared. She finally stopped right in front of him and bent over with her hands on her knees, catching her breath.

"What's wrong…" Mustang looked at the woman's epaulettes "…Corporal?"

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Just around the corner, Ed and Al were standing, listening. Ed had the Corporal's chopsticks in his right hand.

The two boys stayed silent and listened intently to the conversation going on just around the corner.

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She stood up straight after catching her breath. She still looked a little flushed though. This was accentuated by her hair and eyes.

"I have important information for you, sir. And you alone."

"What does it regard?" he asked seriously.

"It regards the disappearance of Second Lieutenant Hawkeye," she told him, equally as serious.

Neither of their faces betrayed a single emotion.

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Ed and Al were shocked to hear that Hawkeye was missing. Why hadn't they been informed? They too worked with her.

Ed's automail right hand clenched into a tight fist. He was angry about not being told and worried for the life of a fellow soldier, a friend.

It brought back the memory of the woman in the alley. He hoped she didn't turn up like that.

Suddenly, he stopped and relaxed his automail hand when he remembered what he was holding. He looked over at the chopsticks, fearing that they were broken.

They weren't. They were fully intact. They should've been crushed.

What were these things made of?

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Roy masked his shock.

"What's your name, Corporal?" he requested of the woman.

She looked into his obsidian eyes with her ruby red ones and said "Tarot. Corporal Tari Tarot." (2)

1 Tutti Fruity Flower Passion – I made the name up on the spot. I needed a name for a perfume that sounded really sweet, sickly sweet. Thus, the name.

2 Tari is pronounced Tar-ee

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Find our what the information is in Chapter 7 of Every Dog.

Next chapter: The Discouraging Clue

Title of the next chappy may change when I type it up. Who knows.

R&R!

E.T.