A/N: Again I couldn't come up with a better title but I guess it makes sense for this chapter because of the ending this time. This chapter turned out to be so long but it was worth it for once. I hope that you enjoy this one.

CHAPTER 9—Chrysanthemums . . . and Kimblee:

"Do you remember the Ishbal War?" She asked.

The homunculus raised his eyebrows at Naminé's question. "Why does it matter?"

Naminé looked away and thought about what had happened in Ishbal for a second before her eyes went on the homunculus. "I figured that it had something to do with this whole jealousy thing you have. I know I cheated back then but I'm not the sort of girl to cheat now." If everything Roy had said was true so far, then it would have all of Kimblee's memories. She folded her arms and sighed, waiting to see what the homunculus was going to do next. What he did next surprise her.

The homunculus lifted up her shirt just so her stomach could show. Then he took the hand that had the Ouroborus on the palm and placed it against her slight bulge. A smirk played on his lips as his hand moved about her stomach. "I can't wait till you give birth to this thing." His dark teal eyes locked with Naminé's. "You want to sleep now?" She nodded. Unexpectedly, she was swept off her feet and into his arms. He carried Naminé to her bedroom and placed her on the bed.

"I can't sleep in this outfit," Naminé mused aloud, talking about the military uniform she was wearing. She was about to get off the bed to change when he got on top of her. His weight was enough to hold her down.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Just take it off."

Naminé started to blush and turned her head away from his gaze. "I'm not going to have sex with you again." She flinched at the touch of his wet lips against her exposed neck. Her body squirmed when he started to work the military jacket off her shoulder.

"Why not? We just did it a few nights ago."

"But you're not Zolf!" She expected a slap across the face or something for yelling at him but she didn't get any retaliation against her. Instead she felt all the weight shifted to her legs. Her eyes saw he was sitting on them, his eyes on her, and a big grin on his face, all his pointy teeth showing. That what worried her—his grin.

"Oh, so you just realized that, babe? Or has it been eating at you for sometime now?" The homunculus patted her cheek playfully as she used to do to Kimblee when he was alive. "It was just a couple of days ago you begged me to touch you, to kiss you, to make love to you. But, if you now think differently, I guess that means you can kill me now, doesn't it?" He then got off her completely and left the room without an explanation.

In the time he was gone, Naminé changed into her pajamas before climbing back into bed. If that all it took for the man to stop, then why hadn't she done it sooner since day one? Maybe because he was right in some sense that she had wanted it. While she was contemplating, the homunculus came back in and threw a knife on the bed. It wasn't aimed to kill the alchemist because that wasn't what he wanted. Naminé picked it up and looked at him.

He approached her and stood by the side of the bed, still grinning. "Go ahead. Kill me."

There was no hesitation in her movement of driving the knife into where any human heart would be. The homunculus fell on the floor automatically, blood soaking his shirt. She didn't care about the mess it made and decided she'll clean it in the morning because it was over. At least that how it appeared. Naminé rolled toward the wall and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she was rolled onto her back and she saw the homunculus holding the knife. Before she could fight, the blade was pressing tauntingly against her neck.

He was still grinning maniacally. "You see, babe, I don't die so easily. But I can't say the same about you. If I just slit your neck open, you'll die. Stab you in the heart, you'll die. Funny how mortal you are, huh?" His teal eyes glared at her, the grin slowly disappearing when he saw the dirty look Naminé was giving him. After saying that, he laid the knife on the night stand and crawled over her body toward the side of the bed that was empty. Then he got underneath the bed sheets and wrapped an arm around her. "I won't force myself unto you, Naminé. I know you'll come to me on your own." That was what scared Naminé the most, the chance that he might be right.

The Lightning Alchemist woke up at seven o'clock the next day and had more than enough time to eat, get ready, and walk to headquarters. She looked back at the homunculus who was sleeping next to her. Taking his arm off her, Naminé got out of bed and started to look around for her uniform. She found a blue skirt and a white blouse. After making sure the homunculus was still sleeping, she pulled out her military jacket and started to get dress. She finished in five minutes and left the room.

The fridge opened and closed after she got the bread out. While the bread was getting heated in the toaster, she ate a banana. Then Naminé walked over to the toaster, threw out the banana skin into the garbage, and took the slice of bread to put it in her mouth. The bread dangled from her teeth as she went over to the cupboard and took out a glass. After taking the orange juice from the refrigerator, she poured some. Her breakfast lasted ten minutes. She put the glass in the sink and put the OJ where it belonged. Picking up her romance novel to keep her entertained before work, Naminé headed to the door. Suddenly a voice spoke from behind her.

"You're going to work?"

Don't know. He might not let me. He might just handcuff me to the bed. The soldier turned around to face the homunculus. His eyes were on her completely as he stood in the doorway of her bedroom, a good twenty feet away. "Yeah." There was no point in lying now. "It's required for a colonel to come to headquarters on time."

"You called in sick yesterday, didn't you? You can do it again."

He's dangerous and we have to give him what he wants. Naminé kicked off her shoes and looked at the clock on the wall. There was still over an hour before she would have to work. So she took off her military jacket and threw it on the couch. "I can't do that . . . Why don't we make out instead?" When those words left her mouth, she wanted to take them back because of the look in his eyes. Despite everything she had said the night before, Naminé knew it was the only way she could avoid her own bloodshed and harm to her unborn child.

"This is a surprise," Roy commented when Naminé walked into his office. "I thought you might be handcuffed to a bed. And you're early for once, too." It was eight-forty-five according to the clock, meaning there was only fifteen minutes before she had to work. So Naminé decided to spend it with the others, all there except Fuery.

"Well, good morning everyone," Naminé said. Everyone else said hello to her.

"You're feeling better, colonel?" Havoc asked, the usual cigarette in his mouth. He had heard about her being sick from the general's screams and complaints through the door to the fuhrer's office the day before.

"A lot," Naminé smiled as she walked over to open a window. The colonel needed fresh air to think about how would she deal with the homunculus later. She was worried that he might just attack someone at random. She felt partly responsible for what had happened to Fuery and he didn't even know what the situation was. Havoc didn't know either and he was practically an unsuspecting, walking target. Vi had said something about it being a matter of lust and that he had some intent on using her. For what? She didn't know like some other things she wasn't sure of. Naminé sighed and turned to look at Roy. "Where's my paperwork for the day?"

After a morning of hard work, lunch came and Roy was guarding Naminé on her way to the café and back. Naminé said she would just buy something and come back to headquarters but the fuhrer didn't want to take the chance of her being attacked or kidnaped. The colonel had gone into the café twelve minutes ago while Roy waited outside. Someone was walking toward the place but he wasn't paying much attention. He was instead looking at his watch, wondering how long does it take to just get something to eat. Mustang only looked up when he noticed the guy had stopped in front of the café's door next to him.

The guy looked at the fuhrer with such malice. When he saw the surprised look on his face, he smirked and took out a hand from his pocket. "You're Roy Mustang, right?"

Naminé took her take-out bag from the cashier and thanked the person. It felt like she had taken forever but it wasn't completely her fault. The line had several people in it, she didn't know what she wanted right away because the cashier was just throwing options out there, and the wait for food wasted more time than necessary. Just when she was about to join the fuhrer outside, he decided to join her-–through the window. Glass shattered on the floor as Roy slammed into a table near her. Worried and afraid about who did it, she ran over to him. "Are you okay?" Quickly, she brushed the shards of glass off his uniform. The entire time her eyes looked at the broken window, wondering where the culprit went.

Mustang wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his hand. "He caught me off guard," he muttered, taking out his gloves and putting them on. The truth was the guy got Roy in his blind spot, the side where he had lost his eye.

The perpetrator decided to be kind and used the door to finish what he started. His eyes met Naminé's and a grin formed with his lips. "Hey, babe." It was the homunculus naturally, standing in all his glory.

Her face read surprise, anger, and disbelief all at once. "Roy has nothing to do with you!"

The homunculus shrugged his shoulders. "I got bored of waiting for you. And there was nothing else to do."

"So you came here?" No answer was given so Naminé went back to helping the fuhrer onto his feet. Even while doing so, her eyes never left the imitation just to make sure he didn't attack again. He didn't; he had his hands leisurely stuffed into his pockets.

Once Roy was on his feet, Naminé charged at the homunculus. She managed to kick him out the window because he didn't fight back nor defend himself. Then Naminé jumped through the window and unto the pavement. 'Zolf' was already on his feet, glaring at her. Just when she was about to use alchemy, gunshots pierced the air and bullets entered the homunculus' body. Her blue eyes saw Riza behind the man, holding her pistol. Riza wasn't alone—Havoc and Breda was there as well.

"That's the guy that injured my shoulder!" Breda exclaimed.

The homunculus looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell?" The bullets that had entered his skin coming back out. Placing his hands in his pockets, he walked over to them.

Riza started to fire some rounds into him but that didn't help. The guy kept coming and the fact that he wasn't dying confirmed that he wasn't normal. Hoping that he would just keel over, she continued firing, finally wasting an entire clip of ammo. When the gun made that empty-clicking sound, she cursed. Quickly reloading, she prepared to shoot some more, aiming for the vital areas.

'Zolf' didn't know why the hell she kept on shooting. Surely she could see he wasn't dying. He allowed her to continue with her pointless firing because it didn't affect him in any way although it soon became a real pain in the ass. His eyes went passed the two and landed on Havoc. That guy again, he thought.

Roy came out of the café, leaving the customers and employees cowering behind the tables and the counter. Naminé may have been behind the homunculus but Mustang could see the look he was giving Havoc. If he didn't act in time, Havoc would have been another victim, a dead victim.

When 'Zolf' moved in toward the group to kill Havoc with an outburst of speed, fire erupted in front of him. The flames stopped him from moving any closer and because of this, he groaned from frustration. The homunculus turned and glared at the Flame Alchemist. "Damn, Mustang. If you wanted to die first, you should have asked." Suddenly, he saw the yellow light that comes from a regular transmutation and looked at where it was coming from. His dark teal eyes saw Naminé, her hands placed on a red transmutation circle. A giant hand came from the ground, slammed him into the street, and continued its way into the sewers below.

Naminé picked up her red lipstick she had used to unfortunately draw the array and stashed it into her pocket. Then she walked over to the hole she created and peered into the darkness. She sighed, remembering how she had discovered that Kimblee was still alive. "Deja vu once again," she muttered. Then she sat, her legs dangling in the hole.

"Hey! What are you–-!" Before Roy could stop her, she jumped into the hole. "Damn!"

The putrid smell and the uneasy darkness helped her recall what had happened three months ago. Just like how she didn't know where Kimblee had been, she didn't know where the homunculus was either. Naminé snapped her fingers to see where he was. The lightning struck down into the sewage and the brief light helped her see that the homunculus was on the other side. She also saw the hand was destroyed and the only thing left of her transmutation was the arm.

He sighed. "This brings back memories, doesn't it?"

Naminé's blue eyes had already adjusted to the darkness and could barely make out his silhouette. Her fists clenched and unclenched out of her rage for the monster, her hatred boiling beneath the surface. "Don't you dare talk about him."

The homunculus grinned sadistically. "Why? Does it hurt that badly, babe? Just saying his name brings you to tears?" Slowly, he started to move in the sewage toward her, his eyes being able to see her actions. Soon the homunculus was on the same side as Naminé. When he reached out to pull her closer, the Lightning Alchemist moved away.

"No," Naminé corrected. "Calling you by his name." Her blue eyes stared at the floor, an attempt to hide what was going through her mind.

He frowned at that statement and watched Naminé turn her back on him. This was the first time she had done it since they met. After a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her and then kissed her on the neck. There was no struggle or effort to push him off but no indication that she enjoyed it either. In a low voice, he said, "At least I was right about the way I feel about you. I'll see you soon, okay?" Then he released Naminé from his embrace and walked deeper into the sewers, away from where he had entered them.

"I don't know why you let her jumped in like that," Breda said to Roy. "Are you sure she's all right down there?" They had given her five minutes on the fuhrer's command and so far there had been no sign of her. There was no sign of anything for the matter. Finally there was a noise from below and then a hand came up to grab the edge of the hole. When they saw it was Naminé, they were all content.

Havoc helped her out of the hole and unto the side walk. The soldier saw how she was looking down into the sewers again and became worried. "You're all right?"

Naminé looked up and turned to face him, a tiny smile on her face. "Yeah. I'm fine now."

When she came home from work, Naminé was ready to face the homunculus. It would be hard to fight someone who can't die but she believed that everything would be fine. However, when she entered the apartment, the colonel realized it was empty. That nervousness was gone and she checked the rooms. Finally, after checking the house and coming back to the living room, she saw the bouquet of chrysanthemums on the living room table and a card that had one word on it: Sorry.

-FLASHBACK-

It was eight o'clock when Naminé finally heard the apartment door open. She tore her eyes away from the pages of her romance novel and looked up to see who entered her apartment. It was Kimblee and he had something behind his back. "What is that?" she asked as she stood to go see for herself.

The Crimson Alchemist didn't bother answering and just thrust it at her when she came close enough. It was a bouquet of chrysanthemums, a large one at that, and they smelled good. "I stopped by the flower shop on the way here," Kimblee explained when she took the flowers from him. "Just don't make a big deal about it."

She looked down at the bouquet and smiled. "Thank you."

"Glad you like them." He was pleased that he had made her smile because it wasn't something he could do often. Zolf would have smiled as well but then he saw that she had started to cry. His eyebrow rose. "What are you crying for? They're just flowers."

"I'm happy, that's all." She hugged him tightly, almost afraid that if she'd let him go, he would leave her. Her eyes squeezed shut to stop the progression of more tears.

Naminé felt a vulnerability she was not used to having. She knew how love worked: it only made someone more susceptible to get hurt. Her old feelings had quickly matured to what she didn't want at the time, not yet at least. He had spent only a few weeks in her apartment and that had been enough time to reawaken her old feelings and make them stronger. When his arms wrapped around her, Naminé was surprised by the gesture and she looked into his eyes. For once, they didn't look predatory. Instead, they held his affection and care for her.

He stroked her hair with one hand and wiped a tear away with the other. "That's really a stupid reason for crying." Afterward, they didn't say anything for a moment or two. During that time, he was trying to form the words in his head. It was a lot harder to say because it wasn't something he admitted often. It wasn't something he felt often either. Finally, he said, "I love you."

Naminé stared at him, partly in disbelief, partly in happiness. Her eyes wandered to the bouquet and then back to his golden eyes. "I love you, too."

Kimblee came down a bit closer to her face. He hesitated and would have drawn back but he felt her touch on his cheek. Going all the way through with his intention, he kissed on her on the lips.

She dropped the bouquet because she needed both hands. Thinking how long it had been since their last kiss made her cherish that moment because it was Zolf who had started it. They separated, still gazing at the other before Naminé picked up the bouquet. "I should put these in water, right?"

His eyes landed on the bouquet. "Yeah."

"I made dinner not so long ago. You want some?"

"That would be nice."

- END FLASHBACK-

She picked up the bouquet and looked at it. Zolf gave me something just like these, she thought as she walked over to the kitchen. Naminé was about to reach for a vase when she suddenly changed her mind and threw the bouquet into the garbage.

A/N: It's keeps getting closer and closer to the end which is several chapters away. Right now, I'm stuck on Chapter 12! It still have time to come to me but nothing has for two weeks now. Anyway, thanks to Evil Palm Tree Envy, Synette, kimimaros-angel, and CorvusCaminus for their reviews.