Chapter 10: Explanations

"Alright, Inuyame, where are you from exactly?" Edward asked.

"I'm from Japan, where else would I be from?" Inuyame answered, looking at Edward like he had a few screws loose.

"Japan? I've never heard of such a place." He answered seriously.

"What? But, well then where is this place?" Inuyame gestured to the house everyone was sitting in.

"This is Amestris." Edwin, the blond teen, spoke up.

"Amestris? I've never heard of that place before." Inuyame said.

"So you've never heard of Amestris, and we've never heard of Japan, so how the two places are related I wonder." Edward said, deep in thought.

"Umm, Inuyame, why do you have doggy ears?" Alison asked shyly as she hid behind her mother.

"Well, Alison, my father has dog ears, and I inherited them from him." Inuyame said, not sure yet whether or not she should tell them her father was actually a half-demon.

"Can I…touch them?" Alison asked again, slowly moving out from behind her mom.

"Umm, well…" Inuyame couldn't think of a response. No one had ever asked to touch her ears before. "Sure, I guess. Why not." She said at last and bent over so the small girl could reach them.

Alison slowly walked over to Inuyame and reached her small hands up to grasp Inuyame's ears. Inuyame held very still as her ears were tickled, pulled on, and moved around by the small 5 year old.

"Alright Alison, that's enough." May-chang said and pulled her daughter back to her. "Mommy, they're real." Alison said in an awed whisper. Inuyame's ears straightened back to their alert pose.

"Of course they're real. And they're very useful too." Inuyame said, pride evident in her voice.

"Oh yeah? Useful for things like what, looking weird?" The blond guy said in a snobby whisper. It seemed Inuyame was the only one who heard him.

"Tch, oh yeah, definitely. They also help me pick up smart-assed comments like that." Inuyame said cockily. 'Woah, where did that come from?' she thought to herself. That wasn't the way she would normally react to something like that. The blond obviously hadn't expected it either; he was looking at her incredulously. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from." She said, looking at her hands in her lap.

"No, he deserved it. Now apologize to our guest." Winry said after hitting her son in the head with a wrench and emphasizing the word guest.

"Ow! Gah, sorry for crying out loud!" Edwin said, covering his head with his arms.

"You better be." Winry said, a menacing look in her eyes.

Edward chuckled and looked away, knowing all too well how Wirny could get.

"What are you laughing at?" Winry asks, turning herself to face her husband.

"Who, me? N-nothing. Nothing at all, dear." Edward said, hoping he wasn't about to get hit as well.

"That's what I thought." Winry said, satisfied, and sat back down.

"Man I'm outta here." Edwin said and made a move to go to the door.

"Not so fast mister." Edward said, grabbing his son's shirt sleeve.

"Ugh, what is it?" Edwin growled.

"This girl obviously needs help getting back home. I want you and William to take her to Central to talk to Colonel Mustang and Hawkeye, they might know something about how to get her back to wherever it is she came from." Edward said sternly, looking to Alphonse for confirmation.

At Al's nod, William stood up. "I'd be happy to help." the young teen said.

"Wha? How come I gotta go?" Edwin said, obviously not liking the idea at all.

"Because you are the eldest and the only one who knows the way other than your uncle and I, and we need to stay here and take care of your little sister and cousin." Ed said and glared at his son meaningfully.

Edwin knew the look and promptly stopped struggling to get away and stared at his red and black converse high-tops. "Yessir."

"Good. Inuyame, the boys are going to take you to an old friend of mine who should probably know what to do. I'll call him ahead of time to let him know you guys are coming. Alright you guys go get ready." Ed finished and left the room to call the Colonel.

"Tch. The only reason I'm doing this is because my father's making me." Edwin said to Inuyame before leaving the room to pack his bag.

Inuyame rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"I'm doing it because I want to." William said and smiled at Inuyame before leaving the room as well.

"Oh dear, you don't have any shoes on. Let me go get you a pair of my old ones." May-chang said before leaving the room.

"No that's alri…and she's gone." Inuyame sighed to herself. They seemed to be a very nice family, if it weren't for the one boy her age, she thoroughly disliked him. "Well, I guess I'd better get ready too." Inuyame said and went to get the weapons she had left outside.

Meanwhile in Japan

Kovu collapsed against the side of the well, not able to believe what had just happened. After she had fallen in he had called after her until he realized she was no longer there. "Inuyame, what have I done?" He moaned to himself.

"Now how are we supposed to find the jewel?" Koya whined, knowing how her father would react.

Kovu whirled on his older, insensitive sister. "What?! How could you even say something like that when Inuyame is lost and possibly even dead?! What is wrong with you!" Kovu stood and shouted.

"What is wrong with me?! What is wrong with you! Your mission was to get the girl to fall for you and get the jewel information out of her! Falling for her was not in the plan!" Koya yelled, getting into Kovu's face.

Kovu sighed and leaned back. "You're right."

Koya fell back as well, stunned. "What did you say?"

"I said, you're right. Falling for her wasn't part of the plan. But it happened, and there's nothing I can do to change that. As it were, I have fallen for her, and we need to get her back." Kovu said, determination evident in his voice as he turned in the direction he knew Inuyame's house was. Koya sighed and followed after him.

The walk to Inuyame's house seemed to take far too long to Kovu, and he was glad when they were finally at her door. He raised his hand to knock but froze. He had no idea what he was going to say. He was also a little scared of this "Inuyasha" he had heard so much about from his father.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Knock already." Koya said, tapping her foot impatiently.

Kovu nodded and gulped, tapping on the door three times. He took a step back and readied himself if he was greeted with hostility. He took a deep breath as the door opened and before him stood a woman that looked very similar to Inuyame except she had different eye color and human ears.

Kagome blinked a couple of times at the pair standing on her doorstep as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. When she could focus more on who was in front of her, she stepped back, startled, and whispered "Koga?"