A/N: Wow. So far, so good. I'm passed the twenty-review mark I made for myself because that's the most reviews I got out of most my stories I wrote (those included on FictionPress, too). Anyway, thanks to Synette, CorvusCaminus, and kimimaros-angel for the reviews .

CHAPTER 7—The Ishbal War, Part III:

His way didn't happen until two days after the incident. Gran had thought long and hard about it and came up with a reasonable punishment for the two alchemists. They would head into unexplored regions of Ishbal at night and try to find where the rest of the rebels were hiding. If they came back the next morning, they could tell all about what they found out. If not, well too bad for them really.

Although the sun had gone elsewhere, it was still a hot night. Kimblee had left his military jacket and was wearing a white sleeveless shirt. Naminé was wearing a tank top, her military jacket unbuttoned and the shorts she had wanted to wear before (she had argued with Romberg that only Kimblee would be there). Despite what how badly she had wanted to wear it, she didn't like the way her 'buddy' kept passing glances in her direction. When his golden eyes glanced at her again, she snapped.

"What are you looking at?"

Kimblee smirked and decided he could say whatever was on his mind, no matter how perverted. After all, it was just the two alchemists and there was no Romberg to stop him. "You have a nice pair of legs," he commented, his eyes on her again.

She was pissed off but didn't want to show it. "I'm glad you like them," she said, although she felt like giving the guy a good kick.

His eyes didn't leave her because he was still checking her out. He saw how red she was becoming and that she had folded her arms across her chest. Kimblee had expected something like that. Because of this, he wanted to tease her some more and I always loved you out of uniform. That's the only time any guy can see the curves you got."

Her face read disbelief first, anger second. "Why are you so freakin' perverted?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. But at least I'm being honest about how I feel."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you actually love Romberg?"

Her mouth opened and stayed that way awhile before a sound could to come out of it. "Of course I love him."

"Since when?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Several feet separated them now, she falling behind. Naminé had not been keeping up with Kimblee since the beginning of this weird conversation. The greater the distance, the better it was for them in her mind. A sigh escaped her lips when Naminé saw that the man had stopped walking, waiting for her to catch up. When they were side by side again, they moved on. There wasn't much time to waste—they both wanted to get back to camp so they could catch enough sleep.

They reached where they were supposed to be, which was the western part of Ishbal. The area wasn't handled yet or have been entered until now. It looked empty but it probably wasn't and the two alchemists felt that as well. That was why they continued to walk deeper into the unknown area where anyone could effortlessly ambush them. Maybe they were all sleeping because it was late out. Then they (Kimblee and Naminé) could ambush them or avoid contact.

"So what are we looking for?" Naminé asked, hoping the Crimson Alchemist had some idea.

"I don't know," he replied. "Some sign of life I guess. Maybe some Ishbalans that are hiding in the abandon buildings around us." When she didn't comment, Kimblee looked over at Naminé and saw what most of her attention was on. There was a building lit by candles perhaps and no doubt they were people who didn't believe soldiers would be around this late at night.

"How many do you think there are?" Naminé started to approach the building and Kimblee followed her.

"Maybe a dozen." The alchemists reached a window and peeked inside. They could see eight men from their position, probably more in the corners of the room. The two would have left if Gran hadn't said to go in if they found a rebellion gathering. Blue eyes met golden eyes for a 'ready-to-go' signal. Kimblee nodded and they crawled in through the doorway.

"Ew," Naminé whispered. "The floor's wet." Her hand had landed in the water and created a soft splash. Luckily, none of the Ishbalans had heard it. She looked back at Kimblee.

"Probably some busted pipe," Kimblee explained. He examined the room their enemies were in and saw that the floor was also wet. Or maybe a flood, he thought, changing his mind.

"You wanna split up?" she suddenly asked, nodding toward the staircase.

The Crimson Alchemist nodded. "Take care of yourself down here and don't die." Still, on all fours, he made his way up the stairs. He would have been in full view of the Ishbalans if their backs weren't turned. The steps creaked with each advancement but no one seemed to notice. He made it to the second floor, still in clear view of Naminé. Then he nodded, stood, and started to walk out of her sight.

Naminé waited for a sign from Kimblee while eavesdropping on the Ishbalans. They were talking about some ideas to ambush the surrounding military camps. Nothing big really that could threaten them. So Naminé found the whole conversation boring and that Kimblee was taking too long upstairs. She headed toward the stairs and was about to climb up when she heard a sound. Naminé turned around, saw an Ishbalan holding a gun and almost instantly a bullet ripped its way through her right shoulder. Blood spewed out of the wound and she collapsed backward into the stairs from the force. Upset voices came from the room and then she was surrounded by at least ten of them.

BOOM!

The sound came from upstairs and Naminé winced. Who else could it be other than the Crimson Alchemist?

Kimblee was coming back down because he had heard a gunshot. Only some guy had got in the way and had tried to kill him with a gun. That was a faulty move on his part because he was gone now. When he was on the landing, he saw Naminé clutching her bleeding shoulder. Then his golden eyes saw a gun pointing upward at him. The gun fired and Kimblee moved out of the way. The way he fell appeared as if he had been hit, causing the Ishbalans to leave him alone.

"Kimblee!" Her blue eyes were wide seeing Kimblee fall down like that and immediately thought he was shot. Naminé kicked the gun out of the guy's hand and got on her feet. Then without thinking, she snapped her fingers. Lightning struck down on one guy and the man received the jolt, but the others around him started to shake as well. Then she felt the jolt surging its way through her body and blacked out but not before feeling arms around her body.

The Crimson Alchemist had left the building sometime ago and was now carrying Naminé on his back. She was unconscious from her own alchemy. Apparently she hadn't paid much attention to where she had been standing. Her shoulder was still bleeding freely and he had to take care of that before it could get any worse. He could already feel the blood seeping through the back of his shirt and how much she had lost was still unknown. Finally, the woman began to stir after ten minutes of sleeping.

"Hey, you're all right?" He asked her.

Her blue eyes opened slightly and saw it was Kimblee giving her a piggyback ride. Without thinking, she snuggled against his neck. "My whole body aches."

"That's what happens to idiots when they do something stupid." The alchemist was surprised she didn't retort something back at him. Maybe she was really tired and weak. The lightning bolt hadn't been one of her normal ones made out of some gentle nature, the ones that never killed the intended target. It had enough voltage to kill the Ishabalan it had struck, causing a burning smell to rise from the body. The others had suffered the same fate as Naminé- unconscious. Though they had been lucky, he had taken the liberty to kill them. He didn't need revenge-seekers after him.

Naminé noticed the color red seeping through the white fabric of his shirt. "You're bleeding."

" . . . I'm not." He found a building that was still boarded up and found a way to get inside. There was no light coming from this one and no furniture was inside. Everything about the place symbolized abandonment. Kimblee rested her body against the wall and took off her military jacket to get a better look at the wound. Blood was still flowing out and Kimblee started to shred her military jacket. The material didn't tear right away but once it did, the rest of it was easier. His golden eyes glanced at the wound then to Naminé's face. She looked like she was in her own little world. "Do you mind if I take off your shirt for a second?"

The word 'off' and 'shirt' registered in her mind and she stared at him."How long is a second?"

"Ten minutes at the most."

" . . . I'll take it off myself." Romberg came into her mind as a reminder of what she was doing but that didn't stop Naminé. In the condition she was in, she doubted that she could take care of her own injury. Naminé grimaced from the pain as she lifted her tank over her head and dropped it on the floor. Her body squirmed a bit at his touch and her right bra strap slipped off her shoulder with his help. Naminé's blue eyes looked at Kimblee who was staring at her chest. "Don't you think about it," she muttered.

The Crimson Alchemist looked up at her. "I won't touch you . . . unless you want me to." She shook her too quickly and he smirked, knowing the thoughts that were running through here mind weren't so innocent.

He took one ripped piece of blue cloth and applied it to her wound with pressure. It was saturated almost immediately and he used up several in attempts to stop the bleeding. Another two were used to clean the wound in front and behind where the bullet had exited. The longer shredded pieces of cloth was used as bandages. He wrapped them around her shoulder, covering the wound the best he could. During the entire process, his mind had retreated to his old fantasies he used to have about her.

When he was done, hormones got the better of him and Kimblee grabbed her one of her breasts without a second thought. Surprisingly, instead of retaliating, she gasped at the unexpected grope. Kimblee let out a smirk as his fingers traced the contours of her chest. Wondering what kind of sound she could make, his fingers played tauntingly at the brim of her bra as his imagination took over. Fuck Romberg, he thought as his fingers finally started to slip under the bra. He doesn't even deserve her. Before he could do anything more, Naminé slapped him across the face. Kimblee was shocked by her action as he pulled his hand away from her.

Naminé's face was bright red. She had almost lost it for a second, almost allowing Kimblee to do whatever he had in his mind. A part of her was not willing to prove Romberg right. What was the rest of her saying? She didn't know, wasn't so eager to find out. Quickly, she slipped her bra strap back on and grabbed her tank top. That went over her head fast and was back on as well. Her eyes were on him as he leaned against the same wall, a few feet between them. At least it was better than their previous position.

His golden eyes looked at the Lightning Alchemist with interest. Naminé didn't say anything bit just stared at the wall ahead of her. Five minutes passed and not one word had been said. The silence between them seemed unnatural so Kimblee asked her something. It was probably dumb one in their situation but he wanted his mind off the woman's anatomy. "Why did you join the military in the first place if you hate killing?"

She arched an eyebrow at his curiosity and the sudden interest in her personnel life. Surprisingly, she didn't mind telling him. After all, it was just a way to pass the time. "To get away from home for a while," Naminé answered.

"You got problems with your family?"

Her blue eyes stared directly into his golden ones. "Not really. Just with my mom. She thinks it's my fault that my father died. I guess it is, in some sense. I could have saved him if I've thought about it a lot sooner."

"Thought about what?"

"Alchemy. I first created lightning that day. I saved me, my little sister Kaili, and Vi but I couldn't save him."

"What happened?" Kimblee knew the basics of the story but not the small details.

Naminé frowned at that question and sighed. "I don't really feel like talking about myself anymore. Tell me something about you. Like how you became an alchemist." All this talking about herself was making her feel more depressed than she was before. Her head and body continued to ache but to a lesser extent now. She supposed listening wasn't out of the question since he had listened to her.

Kimblee smirked as his memories flooded back. "I got interested in bombs. I studied them. Found out how they work, what they're made of. Then I practiced."

The Lightning Alchemist stared at him. "On what?"

His smirk turned into a maniac grin. "Forks, stones, rats—"

"Rats?"

"Why?" He muttered sarcastically. "You protect them, too?" His eyebrows raised when he saw Naminé's turned her face away from him. She knew he was talking about those little kids two days ago. Sighing, he moved closer to Naminé and closed the gap.

She heard the advancements and she looked to her right. Kimblee was only few inches away from her and that was when her heart started pounding. Then his arm came around her waist. A blush reached her cheeks again and she pulled away from his body. "You know that I'm with Thad," she stated.

"And I still want you."

" 'Want' and 'need' aren't really the same thing."

"Explain."

" 'Want' is when you . . . it's just different."

His golden eyes stared hard at her. "So you think I don't care about you?" There was no answer. He thought about it, then kissed her on the cheek. She hitched a little when his lips then touched her neck. His arm wrapped around her again. "Do you still like me?"

"I . . . "

"You can be honest for once," Kimblee told her and then smirking, trailed kisses going down, smarter this time to steer clear of her bust. He pulled away for a second to see the look on her face.

" . . . yeah." Instantly, Naminé felt guilty for saying those words to him. She had a boyfriend and to do this to him would be wrong, even if he doesn't find out. That last thought melted when he tilted her head to look at him and brushed his lips against hers. Then they kissed. It was short and it was more like a test to see how it was. The rest of her, the part that didn't care about whether Romberg was right or wrong, liked the way it felt. " . . . If he finds out about this, I'll kill you," she whispered, not believing whatever had just left her mouth.

Kimblee brought her closer to his body. "How often have you said that and never did?" With a grin, Naminé laced her arms around his neck and they kissed a second time, nothing holding them back.

Her friends Vi and Mel both said that cheating was bad. Yet Mel did it most of the time. Vi had asked her why and she had said because the next guy was always better than the last. The Lightning Alchemist wondered if that could be the case in her life. Could mad bomber Kimblee be better than insecure Romberg? Probably that wasn't too true. Hadn't Mel also said she cheated to get what she didn't have? Naminé didn't get a chance to answer that question because he had just slipped his tongue into her mouth.

Her shoulder was already throbbing but it would become worst in the next few minutes. Of course, her shoulder was the least of her worries in the days to come.

A/N: Cheating is a bad thing but it happens. Anyway, if you want, you can stop reading here, leave a comment, and read Chapter 8 later. But if you love long reads, then click the arrow that points to the right below.