Chapter 9: Chance Encounter

"Ohh, oww." Inuyame moaned as she sat up. She wasn't surprised that she hurt all over; she had no idea how hard she'd fallen; she just knew that she had hit the ground so hard she had been knocked out. "Where am I?" She asked herself as she stood up and brushed the dirt off of herself. She looked around, taking in the bright green grass that seemed to go on for miles, rolling over hills and into valleys. "I don't remember ever seeing this before…" She said quietly to herself, trying to figure out where she was.

"Alison, wait up! Slow down!" She heard a male voice call from about fifty or so yards away. Ah, the perks of having dog ears. She bent down and picked up her bow and arrows. From the place where she was standing right in a valley of two hills, she couldn't quite see who or what the voices were coming from. She heard laughter that sounded like it was coming from a young girl, no more than five years of age by her estimate. Just as she was thinking this, a little girl with wide brown eyes and long blonde hair up in pigtails stopped in her tracks at the top of the hill.

The little girl took a deep breath and released a scream the likes of which Inuyame had never heard before. "Ahhhhhhhh! Brother!" The little girls' shrill voice called. Inuyame collapsed to her knees and put her hands over her sensitive ears.

"Alison stop your screaming. What is it?" A boy with golden eyes and short brown hair said as he also reached the top of the hill. The little girl, who was apparently named 'Alison', pointed her small finger towards Inuyame. "That girl has doggy ears!" She proclaimed.

"Alison, that's nonsense. There's no such thing as a human with…DOGGY EARS?!" Said a blond teen with golden eyes as he, too, reached the top of the hill, exclaiming the last bit as Inuyame took her hands off of her head. "It's a, it's a, CHIMERA! Run you guys!" The blond exclaimed, grabbing the little girl's hand before taking off down the other side of the hill.

"Wait for me!" The brown-haired boy called after them as he followed behind.

"Hey wait! Where am I?!" Inuyame yelled out, but she figured they either hadn't heard her or chose not to answer. "Well that was just rude!" She huffed as she put her equipment back on. "What the hell is a 'chimera' anyway? Isn't it some kind of animal? I'm not an animal, and I deserve to be treated with respect! I'll show them." She grumbled to herself and followed the scent of the tracks.

When Inuyame reached the top of the last hill, she could see the two teens and child climbing up the stairs of a house and disappearing inside. She sighed and continued walking. When she looked down she realized she wasn't wearing any shoes. Damn, that had been her favorite pair of converse.

"You there! Stop!" She heard a deep male voice call out to her. She stopped and looked up into a face almost identical to the face of the blond teen, the only difference being that it was decidedly the face of an adult. You could tell by the shape of his jaw and the set of his mouth. "Holy hell, it is a chimera…" Inuyame heard him mutter under his breath. His eyes narrowed and he sighed audibly, "I guess there's only one thing to do then." Inuyame watched as he reached into the house and grabbed a staff of some sort, then he slowly started walking towards her.

"Hey, I don't know what you're planning on doing with that, but I wouldn't come any closer if I was you." Inuyame called out and notched an arrow, aiming it at the ground below the man's feet.

"It talks!" He started and came to a halt.

"Of course I talk! And I'm not an 'it' thank you very much, I'm a girl! Not a chimera-whatever." She said, emphasizing the word girl to get her point across.

Just then another blond man similar to the one she was talking to came out of the house. "Brother, is everything okay?" He called out. Then, "Is that a chimera?!"

"I'M NOT A CHIMERA!" Inuyame shouted at the top of her lungs and stomped her foot. The movement accidentally released the arrow she was holding and it shot into the ground right in front of the first man.

"Okay we believe you! Just please, put the bow down." He said, talking to her slowly as if she was a child. She did as he said, however reluctantly.

"Alright well you put that staff down then. I've seen the damage that can be done with a staff, I'm not fooled. And I'm not a child either; you don't have to talk to me like one." She said and sighed.

"Alright, I'll put the staff down." He said and lowered it by his side. "Now, why don't you come inside and explain why you have those ears?"

Seeing no other choice, Inuyame nodded her head and followed him inside. Before she went through the door, she noticed that the two houses next to each other were almost identical, and there seemed to be a hallway connecting the two. Once inside, she was lead to a large sitting room where everyone was already seated.

"Alright, I guess I'll introduce myself first. I'm Edward Elric." The tall blond man said.

A tall tough-looking woman with long blonde hair stood up. "My name is Winry, I'm Ed's wife." She said. Then she gestured to the blond teen who looked to be the same age as her, "This is our son Edwin" Then she turned around and picked up a small blonde girl who couldn't be more than one year old. "And our daughter Melissa."

"Actually, my friends call me Eddy." Said the blond guy.

"I'm Alphonse." The other blond man said.

A shorter woman with long brown hair in two pigtails stood up in the corner. "And my name is May-chang, I'm Al's wife." She said quietly. "And these are our children, William and Alison." She gestured first to the brown-haired boy then to the blonde girl.

"It's nice to meet you all." Inuyame said quietly, not sure how to take all the new faces in. "My name's Inuyame."