A/N: Yeah, I'm back with a new chapter----a long, new chapter. So far, I've kept my commitment of posting one new chapter each week which I'm glad. Chapter 11 is done and I have finally started Chapter 12. Probably why I'm so ahead is that I have nothing else to do but I should be doing my summer reading. So far one books have all these words I don't understand (which I gave up reading) and the other is okay. Well enough babbling for me and you can go on to reading.

CHAPTER 6—The Ishbal Massacre, Part II:

Morning came a lot faster than expected for the state alchemists that went into Ishbal the night before. Kimblee was praised for 'discovering' where some Ishbalan rebels were hiding and the state alchemists, on Gran's orders, checked the area for any more of them. They found at least three dozen of them in the area. It had been a long night for them all. So when their tents were opened and the sunlight came pouring in on their faces, they were all pissed, some more than others. Like Naminé, for instance.

"Naminé, you need to wake up."

"Leave me alone." The soldier pulled the sheets over her head only to have them yanked away. She opened her blue eyes and saw her boyfriend smiling at her. "Give me five minutes." Then she tried to grab the covers back but Thad wouldn't let her.

"You have to get ready," he insisted as he tried to pull the covers away for good.

Naminé let go of the covers, causing the guy to stumble backward and took the pillow to put it over her head instead. After she did that, she closed her eyes to sleep again. Dreaming was almost in reach but then she heard a second voice. "Thad, you're doing it all wrong."

Naminé felt the pillow pulled away from her. When she about to retaliate, ice cold water came pouring down on her head. Once it hit her, she let out a scream. That (the water) was enough to wake her up and to see Isabelle holding a red bucket. She got out of the bed, her hair soaking wet and started to reluctantly look for her uniform. She stopped to glare at her boyfriend. "Thad, can you leave the tent?" Her boyfriend nodded and left. Then Naminé glared at her friend. "You didn't have to do that," she muttered dryly.

Isabelle grinned. "Come on. It's the fastest way to get anyone out of bed. You should have seen Kimblee when I did it to him. I thought he was going to blow me up for second." Her eyes followed Naminé taking a scissors in one hand and her pants in the other. She watched Naminé cut the pants to make them into shorts. "You're kidding, right?" she checked, surprise how short it was when she was done.

"It's too hot outside. I was sweating in my uniform yesterday."

"Gran's going to scold you about this one. The guys would be looking at you instead of working."

"They can go ahead for all I care." Naminé was in her uniform in about five minutes and was now working on her wet hair. She thought about it, took a barrette from one of her bags and pulled her hair back into a high ponytail. "My hair feels so heavy."

"It'll dry . . . You're not wearing the jacket either? You're going to have your belly button out?" Her green eyes gazed at the midriff.

"My stomach's flat enough to pull it off."

The tent opened up and Romberg stuck his head through. He was about to say something when his eyes caught Naminé's outfit. His eyebrow raised in question and then he commented. "Naminé, don't you think that's too revealing? I mean, there are mostly guys here and they might, you know, get ideas."

His girlfriend's right eye started to twitch. "What are you trying to say, Thad?"

"You look like a whore," said someone else from outside. She recognized the voice and knew that Kimblee had answered her question.

Romberg sighed. "That's not what I meant. Naminé, what I'm saying is that most guys . . . usually don't do things with other guys. Some can wait until they get home. Others—"

The Crimson Alchemist interrupted again. They were taking too long in the tent as it was and if Romberg kept taking forever to explain things, they wouldn't get anywhere. So he said, "Others get horny so they drag women from the enemy's side and rape them. And if they can't get one, they might go look for the most whorish looking woman on their side who won't squeal. Do you now get the picture, babe? Hurry up and change to what your boyfriend wants so we can go already. I've waited long enough."

With a roll of the eyes, Naminé reached for a new pair of pants and glared at Romberg to give her some privacy again. After his head went back outside, she quickly put on longer pants and came out of the tent with Isabelle. Her boyfriend eyed her top but didn't say anything about it. If he had, Naminé would have punched him in the stomach and yelled at him for being insecure about himself. In her mind, that what it had been for some time now. Those insecurities about her hanging around other men. He should trust her and know that in a year-long relationship, it wasn't a good thing to be assuming stuff.

"Are we going now?" Kimblee asked impatiently.

Naminé turned and glared at the Crimson Alchemist. "With all the Ishbalans you killed, I'm pretty sure there's still plenty there for you to blow up." She ignored the dirty look Kimblee gave her and turned toward Isabelle. "Do you know where we're going to?"

"Yeah," Isabelle responded. "A colonel pointed it out yesterday."

When the four of them got there, soldiers were already patrolling throughout the area. The soldiers all had guns out like they were going into battle but the firearms were merely for protection. The Ishbalans didn't have any weapons that were up-to-date but they could still be lethal . . . until put against a state alchemist. Then it would be another story.

Isabelle, not in the fighting mood, wanted to ask Naminé for some advice on a topic. However, she decided the guys should leave and look for something else to do. When she told the boys that, they had an incredulous look on their faces but left eventually, Kimblee saying something about the girls would just be in the way. After they left, Isabelle turned toward Naminé and said, "Let's walk for a bit."

The two women started to walk the destroyed streets of Ishbal instead of going toward the center of the city. They walked silently, surveying the damage and the bodies that lied around. This was where three dozen people were found, five destroyed by Kimblee's bomb, the others killed by the state alchemists who got there.

"I heard that Kimblee discovered this hideout," Isabelle said, breaking the silence.

Naminé acted like it didn't matter to her and spoke casually. "Yeah. He did."

" . . . Do you still like him? It's been a while but sometimes things remain over time."

Naminé's eyebrow rose at the question. "You mean Kimblee?" When Isabelle nodded, she started to blush slightly before shrugging as if she didn't have an answer. "Why?"

Isabelle shrugged also. "I don't know. I think I like him or something . . . What did you like besides looks?"

The Lightning Alchemist thought about that for a couple of seconds before answering. The things she came up with made up for Kimblee's faults, taking away some of the anger she had for him. "His body's okay and . . . he can be funny at times. Kimblee can be really sweet, too, when he feels like it . . ." At something in her mind, she started to giggle like a high school girl. She kicked a rock as they continued walking. "I used to think about how it would be when I finally kissed him."

Her friend's eyebrows raised at this. "I had no ideas that it had turned into fantasies. But that's all over, right?"

" . . . Yep."

"So, since we are on the topic about guys within the military, what do you think about that Roy Mustang guy?"

Naminé turned around and started to walk backward. She wanted to see eye-to-eye since she was ahead a little. "My honest opinion . . . he's sexy." The two of them giggled despite the dead bodies around them. Their giggles didn't fit with the overall tone of the situation the soldiers were in. However, for once their minds, Naminé's in particularly, was off the war, Gran's orders and the day before.

Isabelle calmed down first. "I can't believe you said that and you're the one with a boyfriend."

Naminé shrugged, still grinning. "It's okay. Romberg looks at other girls and comments on them even in front of me. It's no big deal . . . !" The female officers stopped walking and looked at each other. After seeing the look on each other's faces, they knew that the other had heard the sound as well. It sounded something like whispering and crying plus it was nearby. Both started to follow the sounds cautiously toward the debris. When they got close enough, they found the source—a little boy hugging a smaller girl who was apparently the sister. The girl had more bruises than the boy and they looked a lot more severe, too. She was the one who was crying; the boy was doing the whispering. The children didn't notice the two soldiers looking at them.

Naminé left Isabelle (who didn't want to move in any closer) and headed toward the kids. "Hey, it's not safe here."

The boy looked startled and stared at her with his red irises. At first they had a startled look in them but that soon darkened into one of hate and anger. "Leave us alone! We haven't done anything!" He hugged his little sister more protectively as if it would do any good for her. The boy could be no older than nine.

The Lightning Alchemist got a little closer and got down on one knee. "You're right," she said soothingly. "You haven't done anything. Your sister must be hurt pretty badly, huh?"

The boy narrowed his eyes. "Don't touch her," he said quietly. His sister, who was about five years old, started sobbing harder. Scratches and bruises were all over her small body, none of them fully healed.

"I know you don't trust people like me," Naminé started, "but those wounds can get infected with germs and she could die from it. You don't have to believe me but you can see it later." Despite the soothing quality her voice had maintained, that menacing quality in it was heard.

He considered that for a moment, not sure why a soldier would want to help them when they were killing his people. The lady seemed kind but that was a way to hurt them more easily. Then again . . . "I'll let you help. But if you kill her, I'll—"

"I won't." She turned and faced Isabelle. "Do you have a first aid kit with you or something?" Isabelle didn't say anything but instead took one out a pouch she had been carrying. Naminé took it from her and opened it. When she found the ointment, she started to disinfect the wounds on the little girl's small body. Then she started to bandage them. She even had time to start working on the older brother.

The boy looked innocently at her, grateful that she hadn't hurt his little sister like she had said. "You have very kind eyes, ma'am."

She smiled. "Thanks but don't call me 'ma'am'. I'm not that old."

Isabelle watched intently. The Lightning Alchemist had a notorious record of not truly following orders but what would Gran say about this? Treason? Off with her head? The alchemist was too intent on the boy's wounds to hear the footsteps approaching but Isabelle wasn't. She turned to see who was coming toward them. The soldier relaxed when she saw it was just Romberg and Kimblee. "Hey guys!"

Naminé had just finished with the boy when she heard that greeting. She looked up and saw Romberg and Kimblee coming, both in full view of the children and vice versa. Her blue eyes took full noticed that the Crimson Alchemist was ahead of her boyfriend and seemed to be moving a lot quicker toward them. He muttered a 'hey' to Isabelle as he passed her and approached Naminé.

His golden eyes stared at the first aid kit. "What are you doing?"

That's obvious, she thought but decided to get smart with him. "Nothing." She then stood up and started to approach him, not allowing his distance to the children decrease any more. They looked at each other, waiting to see what the other was going to do. If they did fight, no one would come to stop them––Isabelle and Romberg did not like to mess with alchemy and no non-achelmist would intervene as well.

Kimblee eyed the children before looking at Naminé. "Can you move for a second?"

Naminé took a step closer, so she was in striking range. "Why should I?"

"Because if you don't, you might 'accidently' go boom ."

Her blue eyes narrowed at him before the Lightning Alchemist clapped her hands and gave Kimblee a shove. A jolt shot through him as he fell backward on the ground. She smirked and bent over the guy with her hands on her knees. "Aren't you going to blow me up now?" He got back on his feet and she started to back away. He looked pissed off which was, in a way, good in her case because he no longer wanted to make the children into bombs. The hardest thing now was she just needed to evade him long enough not to get killed. Before he could grab her, Naminé took off into the debris and Kimblee went after her, forgetting the kids he was planning on blowing up.

The area was a maze with all the debris and abandoned buildings around. Alchemy wasn't too much of an option because she didn't want to attract his attention and light up a sign saying "Here I am!" much less get turned into a human bomb. Naminé was hiding behind a chunk of wall that was partially destroyed. It was the best hiding place for now but for how long?

Meanwhile, the Crimson Alchemist was wondering where she could have gone so fast. For a woman, she had a lot of nerve and he didn't like that. It made her act so stubborn. He wanted to grab her and try to keep his threat but that wouldn't happen if he didn't change his tactic. Running around in a large area would only allow her to escape; getting her to show where she was would be less effort. He stopped walking and projected his voice. "I'm sorry. I feel bad for everything I've done and all the lives I've taken. For once in your damn life, you're right."

Naminé didn't believe a word and acted on impulse. She yelled, despite how close his voice sounded, "Do you really think I'm that stupid to believe you?" Already too late, her hand clamped over her mouth and cursed herself, knowing that was what he expected her to do.

Kimblee started to follow the general direction her voice had came from. "No. But you're stupid enough to let me find you."

The Lightning Alchemist let out a groan and stood in the open, admitting that he would have found her anyway. Kimblee was a lot closer than she had thought he was—less than ten feet separated them. Their eyes connected with each other's before the movements started. The Crimson Alchemist was running toward her; Naminé was backing up, her arm outstretched, ready to snap. She hesitated, not wanting to kill her own comrade and that cost her. Kimblee had her by the wrist, a sadistic grin already on his face. Knowing what would happen, her fingers snapped together and lightning came down. The jolt wasn't powerful enough to knock him out because she didn't want to knock herself out. Nonetheless, she had felt the shock as well, realizing how it sucked to be hit with her own attack. The only good thing that came out of this was that Kimblee had released her arm. When that happened, Naminé took off again.

Running away was not something she liked doing partly because it was cowardly to her. But there wasn't any real choice except getting blown to bits. She hid in the alley between two buildings to catch her breath. Maybe he would find her, maybe not. To her, nothing can be definite about that guy. Naminé heard an explosion about fifteen yards away. That was okay for now because it seemed like it was at random since another explosion happened. Five minutes lapsed and still no Kimblee. Was he waiting for her to walk out into the open? He probably was and she wouldn't let that happen so easily. Her ears picked up footsteps from behind and before checking to see who it was, she snapped her fingers on impulse.

Kimblee didn't know where she had wandered off to. He didn't know how fast she could run either. When he was just about to give up the chase and go meet up with Thad and Isabelle, lightning struck down between two buildings. He grinned and started to move in, plotting a sneak attack.

"What is the meaning of this?" Gran growled, narrowly dodging the lightning bolt.

Naminé crossed her arms and started to look around herself instead of giving a salute. "Sorry, Colonel, but I didn't know it was you. I thought it was somebody else."

That wasn't a good explanation for the Gran. Her reason only deepened his frown and made his eyes stare at her coldly. "You had strict orders to come out to the city's center! What is here that you find so amusing? Are you hiding the enemy in these buildings?" His eyes watched the soldier shake her head no. This major had always been a pain in the ass for him and he preferred not to be the one who dealt with her. It turned out she had to be working under him in this war. In his mind, she was incompetent and had been a waste of space on the battlefield. Showed no respect either especially to him and didn't bother hiding her arrogance. He was about to yell at Major Thomson again when the wall exploded next to them and smoke clouded his vision temporarily.

The Crimson Alchemist walked out of the giant hole in building he created. Kimblee's eyes were already on Naminé and he didn't noticed Gran's presence. He clapped his hands and started to walk toward the female who was backing up. He laughed, thinking she wouldn't escape him this time and their game of cat-and-mouse had came to the end. "I got you now, you stupid—!"

"Kimblee!"

The major swirled around and saw the colonel glaring at him. "Colonel?" Shit. He knew he was in trouble. Maybe it wasn't too bad but still Gran had his way of handling things.

A/N: Those two always get into something, huh? Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter I felt that this one turned out sort of crappy. The next two chapters will be posted next week! The only reason that I didn't post up two this week because Chapter 7 and 8 go together pretty well in my opinion. Besides all that, thanks for the reviews last chapter: Darkfire75, Synette, CorvusCaminus, and kimimaros-angel. Also, I might change the rating to M to be on the safe side. I'm not entirely sure. Till later.