Okay, as most of you know from the end of chapter one, this is definitely not going to be a one shot, right? Also, just so everyone knows, they NEVER FOUND Ed's body. All they found was a piece of his jacket and a necklace that Kararu had given him, one identical to another she wore. Just wanted to get that clear. I'm going to let you read now! Have fun!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I do own Kararu Rinamino, and Silvermoon15 owns Shikou Stone, I'm just borrowing.

All's Fair in Love and War

Chapter 2

Hughes ran down the hall from the waiting room when he had seen a few doctors and a pair of security guards running into Kararu's room. When he was almost to the room, he saw Al walking out, supporting Mustang.

"What the hell…?" Hughes whispered, seeing Mustang breathing heavily, his neck having bruises in the shape of fingers starting to form. "Are you all right Roy?"

Mustang opened his mouth and was about to speak, but when he breathed in he gave a hard cough and shook his head, gasping as best he could for air.

"Don't speak Mustang…" Al said softly. "Let's find somewhere for you to sit before you pass out from lack of oxygen…"

Hughes quickly ran to Mustang's other side, Mustang giving him 'the look'. He knew that Mustang hated help like this, but hell, he was injured and in no condition to argue. They got him across the hall to where there was a waiting bench, and they set him down on it.

"What happened?" Hughes asked, gently rubbing Mustang on the back to help him breathe.

"Kararu…tried to…strangle me…" Mustang said, coughing again to try and breathe.

"And it seems she did a damn good job of it, too." Hughes said, looking at the marks on his neck.

"She had a bad dream." Al confirmed. "She remembered when…when the soldier shot…shot Brother…"

Hughes sighed. "Painful memories never die." Hughes said, then looked at Mustang. "Seems you were the closest target to her…I'll bet if Al had been sitting where you were, she would have grabbed him…same with Shikou."

Mustang nodded, not daring speak unless he had too. All eyes shot up when they heard a straight beep sound coming from inside of Kararu's room. The trio sat in shock, not knowing what was going on. They stared at the door, and Shikou ran out, gasping, "Kararu's heart just failed!"

Al's eyes went wide, Mustang and Hughes turning to look at each other's pale faces.

Al jumped up and ran towards the room, running in just in time to hear someone yell, "CLEAR!"

A loud thump was heard, and the straight beep turned into steady even ones. He sighed in relief, as did Shikou and Hughes who had just run in. They turned to the door to see Mustang leaning heavily against the frame, a look of relief on his face as well.

"Damn, I wish she'd stop scaring us…"

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xxThree Days Laterxx

"Kararu's out of the hospital?" Hughes asked, surprised. "Already?"

"Yes…even though she had another 'dream' episode a day ago, they think she'll do better…" Mustang said, rubbing his neck where bruises were still going strong.

"And let me guess…the first place she's going is Edward's grave, right?"

"Right." Mustang sighed. "I just…I don't know what she's going to do…"

"Roy…I know it's a very touchy subject with you but…what if Edward wasn't really dead?"

"Hughes, must we ta-"

"Yes, we must talk about this Roy! Just think for one minute that Edward was still alive out there somewhere! What would you do?"

Mustang sighed heavily. "I'd use all means necessary to get him back."

"Would you do it…for her as well? Do anything to get her back to the way she was?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I would Maes!"

"Then start looking for him. I'm afraid that if we don't make ends meet this time…we're going to loose her as well."

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Kararu stared down at the grave, her eyes seeming soulless, bags having appeared under her eyes from lack of sleep.

"Oh Ed…" Kararu whispered, falling to her knees to look at the headstone.

Edward Elric

1899-1917

Brigadier General

Loving Brother and Caring Friend

Be Thou For the People Always

Kararu gulped, tears forming in her eyes, hollow of any emotion but sadness.

"How can I go on…? How do I live without you?" She asked, gripping the two pendants she now wore on her neck at all times. "Why does one little thing have to change everything?"

"Why didn't I understand sooner that you loved me…"

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xxThe Next Dayxx

Al walked to the graveyard, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He reached Ed's grave and looked down to see Kararu leaning against it, fast asleep. Al sighed, putting the flowers on the grave, then walked over to Kararu and gently picked her up. He looked around, then headed back to the Rockbell residence, where everyone was staying.

Mustang and Pinako had finally gotten past their past differences and were being very civil with each other since Ed's funeral, where Pinako had seen him cry. Hughes and Al gathered wood and transmuted a new series of rooms onto the Rockbell house, now used as guest rooms.

Al walked inside, Kararu slumped against his chest as she slept. Mustang and Hughes both shot from their chairs at seeing her, but Al just smiled at them and shook his head, meaning she was fine. Mustang and Hughes sat down, a sigh of relief escaping their lips, Mustang coughing lightly.

Al walked over to the couch, lightly setting Kararu down on it, walking over to the two.

"I found her at Ed's grave…she was asleep when I got there." He whispered to them.

"Well, that's where she would be, isn't it?" Mustang asked.

"So that's where she was last night." Hughes mused.

"Yeah…but we still need to watch her." Al said, sighing, then looked over at her worriedly. "Has she eaten at all in the past few days?"

"Well…it seems like she's eating half of her plate just to please us…I think she's never hungry…I walked in on her crying yesterday morning." Mustang said, sighing.

"I don't think she's really slept at all since she woke up from her coma…without the nightmares, I mean…" Hughes whispered.

"Right now, actually, all we can do is try to help her…"

"But how can we, Roy? She and Ed were…"

"Best friends?" Mustang asked.

Hughes shook his head. "No, Roy…they were in love…apparently, you don't remember her words from when she woke up…"

Mustang then nodded his head. "Oh…we were all…very close to Edward…"

"Not as close as she was…" Hughes said with a sigh.

"But still…we all worry…we care about her, but she just can't seem to figure that out…" Al muttered.

"You know, I can hear every single word your saying." A voice said from the couch. The trio flinched, then turned to look over at Kararu, who was now awake and glaring at them. "I'm going up to my room." She said grudgingly, then quickly stood and walked out.

All the guys turned to look at one another, then flinched when they heard a door slam. They looked at the floor, all muttering grudgingly at the same time, "Smooth…"

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xxLater That Dayxx

"Anyone seen Kararu?" Mustang asked. "It's time for dinner…" Everyone shook their head. "I'll go find her…" He said with a sigh.

He walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "Kararu?" He called. He walked into her bedroom to see her sitting on her bed, staring blankly at the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks. Other than that, she made no move; she didn't even show that she knew he was there. "Kararu, it's time for-"

"I'm not hungry." She interrupted him.

"But Kararu, if you don't eat, you'll-"

"Get sick and die?" She finished for him. "Good. I want it that way."

"Kararu, no. You have to live."

"Why?" She asked, still not looking at him, the wall seeming interesting to her as she seemed to keep staring at it.

"You have to live on for Edward's image. He wouldn't want to see you like this." Mustang whispered, coming over. He sat on the end of the bed next to her, a hand going out to rest on her shoulder. She flinched back from his touch, finally turning to him. She glared, standing.

"Why won't you people just leave me alone!" She screamed. Mustang sat in shock at her sudden outburst.

"Kararu, what're you-"

"Don't you understand that I just want to be left alone to die?" Kararu yelled, staying where she was for the moment. "Everyone here is so stupid! You won't listen to me! I'm not hungry; I don't want to do anything; I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE! WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?"

Kararu then took off out the door, crying.

"Kararu, where are you going?" Mustang yelled after her, jumping off the bed after the initial shock of her yelling at him so forcibly wore off. He ran down the stairs and down to the kitchen, everyone running to the door as he came by.

"What's wrong? We heard her yelling and-" Hughes started, but Mustang had no time for talking.

"Did you see where she went?" Mustang asked urgently, stopping just long enough to get an answer.

"No, what's wrong?" Hughes asked.

Mustang shook his head, motioning for Hughes and Shikou to come with him.

They ran after him as he took off again, everyone else looking after them in confusion.

"What's going on?" Hughes asked as they dashed out of the house.

"I don't know what's wrong! I just walked in to tell her it was time for dinner and she just started yelling!" Mustang said.

"Then she took off out the door! Damn, now I wish she hadn't been made into a quarter chimera!" He said.

He remembered that she had been a lab project at Laboratory 5 before they let her go after succeeding with their goal. They had been trying to create chimeras that looked like humans, and they were successful with her, then threw her out, leaving her with dog-ears…and with the ability to transmute her body into a demon-like state.

"Did you see which direction she went in?" Shikou asked.

"No…get into wolf form and find her scent!" Mustang said.

Shikou nodded, then stopped and ran her hand over the transmutation circle she had on her hand, then her figure changed into a large white, blue tinted wolf. She put her nose to the ground and Mustang and Hughes stopped to watch. After a minute the wolf turned back into Shikou and she pointed.

"Over there?" Mustang asked. Shikou nodded. "All that's over there is the remains of Ed and Al's…old……home…" Mustang said, then took off again, the others staring after him before they ran to catch up, but he was running faster than either could at the moment.

Mustang, after ten minutes of running, finally made it to the remains, running around until he saw what he thought he would.

He saw Kararu with a piece of chalk, redrawing the human transmutation circle on the ground, which was still amazingly there after all the years of weathering it had to go through. Just as he was about to reach her she threw the chalk to the side.

Mustang noticed that there was a pile of ingredients in the middle of the circle. She was about to lay her hands on it when Mustang grabbed her from behind.

"LET ME GO!" She screamed, trying to beat his arms off of her as he picked her up and pulled her away from the circles.

"Kararu, what do you think your doing!"

"Let me go…I want Ed back! Please, just let me go!" She screamed.

"Kararu…you can't have him back." Mustang said, not even looking up as Shikou and Hughes finally made it to the remains of the Elric estate.

"Please…just let me do this…I want him back…I need him!" She said.

"Kararu, no." He said, shaking his head.

"Please…you don't understand…please…just…let me do this…" She said.

"I can't let you."

"Won't you just leave me alone and let me decide what to do with my life!" She yelled angrily.

"Kararu…come on, please listen to me."

"NO! I WON'T LISTEN!"

"Kararu, Edward's not coming back. You have to let him go."

"NO! I r-refuse…to believe that!"

"Listen…come on, let's go back."

"No…I'm not going back there…"

"Why?"

"Ed…Ed was there…everything reminds me of him…" Kararu said, then she started to cry, shoving her face into his shoulder. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to yell at you like that…I'm sorry…"

"Shh…shh, it's okay…" Mustang whispered, gently rocking her back and forth.

"Come on…let's go back." Shikou whispered softly, coming up behind Mustang.

"I'm not going back!" Kararu screamed, her eyes angry, then a moment later they turned soft and confused again. "I'm sorry Shikou…I…I didn't mean that…"

"I know."

"Come on…we can go get a room at the hotel in town." Hughes offered.

"As long as nothing there will remind me of Ed…" Kararu said, standing, Mustang right behind her.

"All right. Come on, let's go put you to bed…you need it." Mustang told her.

Kararu nodded, allowing Mustang to lead her by the shoulders back towards the town area.

Shikou and Hughes stayed and looked around, Shikou spotting the circle.

"Hughes…what's this?" She asked, pointing to the circle.

"Hmm?" Hughes asked, turning around to look. He looked, his eyes widening in shock. "No…she couldn't have…"

"What is it, Hughes?" Shikou asked, confused.

"She…she tried…no, she wouldn't have…" Hughes whispered.

"What? I don't really get it…" Shikou said, then looked closer at the circle design. She stared at it in utter horror. "No…she wouldn't do that…she wouldn't try it…she has enough sense not to…"

"Are you so sure of that?" Hughes asked her.

"What?" Shikou asked.

"Are you sure that she has enough sense? She's been acting strange ever since…ever since she woke up after the battle." Hughes said.

"I don't understand…what are you getting at?" Shikou asked.

"I'm not sure that Kararu has enough sanity left to understand what's right and what's wrong."

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I hope you all enjoyed it! I'm sorry that it took so long to update, but I got really bad writers block after the part where Kararu ran up to her room angrily half way through…I'm sorry, and I hope you all enjoyed it!

Don't forget to go click that little button at the bottom left corner of the screen and review! Thanks for reading!