Chapter 15: Natsuki

Darkness fell over the isolated room and a chill swept through the area. A young boy, at the age of nine, stood by himself, shivering in his the thin clothes he wore. He could see his own breath before his face. His blonde hair almost felt damp from the freezing air surrounding him. The boy didn't know why he was here, but knows that he was tricked in coming here. Military men came to his home and took him from his mother and younger brother, saying that he was needed for an important, secret rendezvous.

They lied. They threw him in this ice-cold room, telling him that he was needed for an important experiment. The military had the boy wear a large tag over the chest of his shirt, and on the tag was the number "024" written in large, bold print. Beneath the number, printed in small text was the boy's name. It read, "Edward Elric".

He heard a knock come from the door and hopes that the military might finally let him leave this cold, isolated room. He was right about the military coming in, but their intentions weren't to set him free. Two soldiers were escorting a little girl inside the room. She was carrying a small sketchbook in one hand and a pencil in the other. Just like Ed, she wore a large tag on her chest, but hers read "023".

"Stay in there till you're needed, 23." The first soldier instructed and pushed her in.

"But it's really cold in here." The girl said as she began to shiver.

"There's no harm in turning on some heat." The second soldier said to the first. He angrily mumbled to himself and pulled up the temperature lever. The lights turned on and a heat ventilation was activated. Both Ed and the girl felt the sudden heat wave blow pass them and finally stopped shivering. Before the two soldiers left, they locked the door to the room, so the kids wouldn't escape.

With the room warmer, the place wasn't that much of a frozen hellhole. The room was of pure white, and even the furniture was white. There was a small table and a few chairs for them to sit on. After the soldiers have left, the room once again got quiet, until Ed broke the silence.

"Natsuki, is that you?" he asked as he walked up to her.

"Yeah…it's me." She slowly answered.

"What are you doing here? I thought your brother came and took you home."

"He did. And he took me here, too."

"Your brother's in the military, huh?"

Natsuki nodded and then asked, "What're you doing here, Ed?"

"Those military jerks came to my house saying that they needed me for something. And then they threw me in here saying that I'm needed for some important project they're doing. You're probably needed, too, since you have a number on your chest."

"I know they need me. They already started their experiment on my body. I just came back from surgery and already I feel different."

Ed could easily tell the difference with his friend, Natsuki. She was always such a cheerful girl and was always happy around him. But she was no longer the same. She didn't come back from the surgery for the military project. She came back from another one.

Natsuki sat down at the table and laid out her sketchbook. She then began looking at all the sketches she drew in the past. She didn't mind that Ed was looking over her shoulder, but actually scooted over on the chair so they could share the same seat. The chair was rather large for just her, anyway. Ed then noticed a slight smile was returning to her face, and realized that she was struggling to show her happiness.

"Sorry for looking so sad." Natsuki unexpectedly apologized.

"Why are you apologizing, Natsuki?" Ed wondered. "It's not your fault."

"It's just that…I'm used to being so happy around you. You can probably tell it's hard for me to give you a smile right now. But I'm doing a good job, right?" She tried her best to give him the biggest smile she can possibly give at this moment, and it was actually a pretty decent one.

"You're making good progress, but a big one's like this." Ed laughed and stretched that smile, as well as her cheeks. With that, he got Natsuki to at least laugh a little with him. The two gazed into Natsuki's sketchbook and pondered through all the memories of her drawings. She would always capture every scene almost like a photograph. Ed was always amazed at her artistic talent.

"I really like being with you, Ed." Natsuki happily said, finally breaking through her struggle. "It's always so much fun, and it's so hard not to smile around you."

"I can't imagine living in a world without you, Natsuki, or as I should say, Naoki." Ed replied to her. "Even though we're going through a weird military crisis at this moment, you're still my happiness and…I'm yours. No matter what happens to me, I hope to never, ever forget about you…"

Then why did I? Ed sadly questioned himself as he suddenly awoke from a lost memory. He is now his sixteen year-old self, and not the one he was in his missing memory. He began to rescan through his sudden recollection and wondered what happened to his friend, Natsuki. That memory was really strange. Ed thought. We were in Lab 5! I knew the layout of that place was so familiar! It was used for a mysterious military project. And I was part of it. Okay, think! The military's done a lot of stupid things in the past, but there was only one massive project they worked on. Wait a minute…THE TSUBASA PROJECT!!

"Ed, are you okay?" Hikaru asked. "You seem really shaken about something."

Should I tell her? Ed thought for as moment but then believed that it was best not to worry her yet. "It's nothing you should worry about, Hikaru. I just remembered something. That's all." He then noticed something different about her. "Hey! What's with the new getup?"

Hikaru finally changed from the clothes the hospital made her wear into some new attire that were different from her old ones, as well. But just like her old outfit, her new one was almost all black. She wore a sleeveless sailor-fuku (also know as a sailor outfit) with red streaks on the collar and at the bottom tips. Underneath the sailor-styled collar was a darker, black necktie with a white cross at the end. To Ed's surprise, Hikaru wore a black pleated skirt. He would never expect her to wear one.

"My old clothes were really torn and in bad condition thanks to our last fight." Hikaru answered him with a simple laugh. "Winry and Second Lieutenant Ross went out and bought me this new outfit. It's light and great for combat mobility."

"But what about the skirt? It's not like you to wear one." Ed questioned as he examined it, since he was new to the pleated design.

"I hate skirts, but they forced me to wear it." She replied and then lifted her skirt up, causing Ed to scream loudly and his face to turn entirely red. She explained to him, "No need for screaming, Ed. See? I'm wearing these shorts."

"S-Still Hikaru…p-please keep the skirt down." Ed stuttered and pulled down the skirt for her. Hikaru has never seen his face so red before, even more than his little "accident" before their infiltration of Lab 5. She decided to tease him a little bit more and lifted the skirt up again. For another time, Ed screamed once again. "Hikaru! Please stop!" He begged and tried to pull it back down, but this time, Hikaru fought back with her own force. Ed's face continued to get redder and redder, until blood started to drip from his nose. Ed knew that if no one were to come in and save him, he might end up having another "accident", and having it right in front of a girl would make him completely embarrassed and ashamed.

Luckily for Ed, the door bursts open and in comes his younger brother. "Hey Ed, you awake yet?" Al cheerfully asked as he charged in, but instantly halted from all movement. He thunderously shrieked! The poor boy was in complete shock to see his older brother, the one he has so much respect for, looking at what's under a girl's skirt and getting a nosebleed from it. To Al, Ed looked like a dirty, perverse man.

From hearing Al's scream, Winry and Second Lieutenant Ross hurried into the room. Once they came in, their jaws dropped to the ground. Winry immediately took out a giant chainsaw and was prepared to slice Ed into pieces with it.

"EDWARD…" Winry spoke with a creepy threatening voice. "YOU KNOW THAT YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIFTING UP WOMEN'S SKIRTS, RIGHT…?"

"Yeah, but-" Ed answered and tried to defend his innocence. However, Winry cut him short when she began to yell in his face.

"YOU SLEAZY PERVERT…PREPARE TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!" She activated the saw and the blades began to swiftly spin. Ed let go of Hikaru's skirt and began to quiver in fear of Winry's massive chainsaw.

"Actually…It's my fault, again." Hikaru laughed and explained the situation, "I was only teasing Ed by lifting up my skirt. He was just trying to stop me from doing it."

Winry's chainsaw instantly stopped spinning and dropped to the floor. She turned towards Hikaru with a shocked look on her face. Ross went over and bonked Hikaru on the head. She then scolded her, "Hikaru, you should know better."

"I don't. Please educate me." Hikaru said sarcastically

"Cut the sarcasm!" Ross then sighed. "I should never have made you wear the skirt."

"Then take it off me."

"No! You think you can weasel out of wearing one? I don't think so! We made a deal back at the shop, and you're going to wear a skirt whether you like it or not!"

"Dammit."

"What happened?" Ed curiously asked out of the blue.

"It was back at the new clothing shop nearby." Hikaru started to explain the story, as the images of her memory there began to come back to her.

------------------------

"Ed should be fine if we leave him in his room for a while, instead of bothering him." Winry spoke as she and Hikaru were walking down the sidewalk from the clinic. It's been a while since both of them had a relaxing moment to enjoy themselves.

But something was beginning to irritate the blonde mechanic. It was something that Hikaru seems to feel at ease about. Winry suddenly burst out to the Alchemist, "How could you wear clothes like that?!"

"Why? What's wrong with them?" Hikaru looked down at her clothes and noticed how tattered they are from her previous battle at Laboratory 5. Sure, her shorts were torn up pretty badly, but her black tank top only had a few tears. In her opinion, looking nice doesn't really matter; clothes that still suitable for combat are what matters.

"It's not normal for people to be walking around with tattered clothes like that." Winry explained, and pointed around them, "Besides, you got several people staring at you in a weird looking way. It's definitely not a good sign."

They needed to find a clothing store and fast. Winry grabbed Hikaru's wrist and dragged her down the streets at lightning speed. Suddenly she crashed into someone and both Winry and that someone fell to the ground. Hikaru, however, was the only one that was safe. While the blonde was recuperating from her crash, Hikaru quickly noticed whom Winry had bumped into: Second Lieutenant Maria Ross!

"Second Lieutenant!" Hikaru exclaimed. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be body guarding Ed?"

"I know I should be," Ross replied, "but with me being a woman I can't hold myself back from something."

"And what's that 'something'?" Both Winry and Hikaru asked.

"THAT NEW CLOTHING SHOP FOR ALL WOMEN! SEREIN BEAUTÉ!" Ross shouted and pointed to the enormous building they're standing right in front of. Her cheeks instantly bloomed with blush. "I've waited so long for this store to open. It has everything to anyone's liking."

Soon Winry shrieked abruptly. Hikaru was shocked from her deafening volume and quickly plugged her ears. The mechanic couldn't help but gaze so longingly at the outfit before her eyes. It's the same outfit design as shown in the many fantasy books she read as a child. Ever since she was a child, she had always wanted to wear the same clothes as the female protagonist and appear as a hero. Winry quickly ran inside towards the counter to ask if she can try it on.

"I HAVE TO BUY IT!" Winry exclaimed with much determination.

"Why do you need it so badly?" Hikaru wondered, clearly showing that she has no idea of a woman's world of fashion and glamour.

"It's the only one left in stock, and there's no other place that sells a design like this!"

"Aren't you going a little too overboard with this sort of thing?"

"Hell no, I'm not! Now let's go to the changing room and let the lieutenant enjoy herself." She then dragged Hikaru to the dressing and told her to help her put on the outfit.

I don't see anything special about these clothes. Hikaru thought. I guess they look really nice though, considering that it's all black. It was a black, sleeveless sailor-fuku with red streaks on the collar and at the lower tips of the shirt. The necktie had a holy cross imprinted on the end. The miniskirt was pleated and made with material durable for combat. Probably it was made to match the protagonist of a character in some fantasy novel series. Since it was fantasy based, the heroine must've needed some heavy-duty clothes that are ready for combat against all sorts of creatures.

"Hey Winry, how's the outfit working for you?" Ross asked as she suddenly came into their dressing room with piles of clothes hanging on her arms. Winry stood up and surprising she wasn't satisfied with herself.

"It doesn't fit me," she complained. "The chest is too big and the waist is too tight. And the overall size is too small." She began sulking as she took off the clothes. "Looks like I'm not the heroine type."

"You can let me try it on." Hikaru interrupted. "You were complaining about me needing some new clothes, right?"

And with that, Winry handed the sailor outfit to Hikaru and helped her put it on, especially the necktie, which seemed to cause a lot of trouble. When she was finally fully dressed and complete the Winry and Ross were stunned to see that Hikaru perfectly fits the outfit.

"How is it?" They both wondered.

"Unlike Winry, the chest is a perfect fit and the same goes for the waist." Hikaru answered, causing Winry to be a bit angered by what she said.

"Any problems?" Ross asked.

"Yeah," Hikaru replied and tried to stretch the miniskirt a bit longer. "I feel a lot of air between my legs. Is this normal?"

"Of course, if you're wearing a skirt or dress."

"Well, this is my first time wearing one…and now I feel a bit paranoid. I really, really need some shorts!" Hikaru began to frantically look around her and noticed small biker shorts on Ross' huge clothing pile. She instantly snatched them and out them on. They were tight, but still shorts. And finally she calmed down. However, still not liking skirts or dresses, Hikaru decided that she was satisfied with the shorts and removed the skirt.

"Hikaru! What're you doing?!" Both Winry and Ross shouted in bewilderment.

"I don't like skirts." Hikaru explained. "I have shorts now, so I'm fine without one."

"WHO CARES IF IT'S A SKIRT, HIKARU!!" Winry shouted from the top of her lungs.

"But I care…"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT MATTERS! Now let me finish…Hikaru, you have no idea how valuable the clothes you're wearing are, don't you?" The clueless Alchemist shook her head at Winry's question. "I thought so. Those clothes need to be altogether in one outfit. Without one article of clothing, it loses its entire value."

"And why am I supposed to care?"

"Because I do! I'm the one who wanted to buy those clothes, but they won't fit me. And apparently, they work perfectly for you!" Then an evil smile appeared on the mechanic's face. She turned around and whispered something to Lieutenant Ross, and soon her facial expression matched Winry's. "Since I want that outfit pretty badly I'll buy those clothes for you, Hikaru."

"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?" Hikaru suspected.

"Didn't I tell you? I really like that outfit."

"Just tell me your real plan already. I'm not stupid."

"If you won't wear that skirt, I won't buy new clothes for you, forcing to walk around in your tattered clothes or, even better, your underwear!"

"Is that it?" Hikaru laughed it off. "I told you before, Winry, I'm not stupid. I could just buy these clothes myself, you know."

"I'm not finished yet, my friend." Winry evilly spoke. Hikaru wasn't expecting this and prepared herself for an even worse scenario. "We were expecting you to be a smart ass sooner or later, so we prepared a second plan. Hikaru…If you don't wear that skirt…" Winry held out her hand, giving Ross the sign to give her several small photos. "…We'll be forced to show these around to everyone, even Edward." She showed the photos to Hikaru, and the Alchemist acted as if a sword came and stabbed her in the head.

"THESE ARE COMPLETELY FILTHY!!!!!!!!" Hikaru cried out. They were photos of her in the changing room, and they all consisted of her nude or in her undergarments! Since she can no longer feel the emotion of rage and anger, Hikaru's face turned red with embarrassment instead. "When did you guys take these?!"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ross said as she held out a camera. "I took it while you were changing. Winry knew that there would be one moment where you wouldn't cooperate, so she told me to do this."

"How could you go along with her evil scheme?!"

"Every woman must eventually learn to wear a skirt, whether they like it or not. And your time to learn is now! Besides, Hikaru, you look better in a skirt."

"Yeah," Winry sighed in agreement. "The thing that makes me even more jealous is that you can wear those clothes."

"They're just clothes, though." Hikaru pointed out.

"It's not that. Those clothes prove our measurements as women."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just look at yourself. They fit perfectly on you. The waist was too tight on me, meaning you're thinner than I am. And the thing I hate the most though is that the chest of the shirt felt too large for me, making you much chestier than I am."

"She does have a point." Ross agreed, as she looked carefully at Hikaru's chest, making the young Alchemist jump back in surprise. "You're actually very large for your size. Small women, like you, normally aren't as developed as taller women. Hikaru, how old are you anyway?"

"I may have amnesia," Hikaru began, "but enough of my memory has to returned for me to remember how old I am. I think I'm almost 16, but I know for sure that I'm only 15 right now."

"Then we're about the same age. That's not fair!" Winry complained and then went straight back to her evil, blackmail plan. "And so, Hikaru, promise us to always wear that skirt, or else you know what happens." She waved the photos in the Alchemist's face.

"Fine…I promise..."

------------------------

"I can't imagine you being subjected to blackmail." Ed laughed.

"That's not funny, Ed!" Hikaru exclaimed. "Those two are evil, especially Winry. What if they forced you to do something you really hate by using blackmail or any sort of torture?"

"You're right…only Winry would come up with such an evil, wicked plan!" He then thought to himself, If she were to do something like that to me…dear god! Ed quickly jumped out of his bed and stood close to Hikaru, looking directly into her crimson eyes. He grabbed both of her hands and clenched them tightly in his, as he loudly declared, "I understand your pain, Hikaru! To go through the hardship of her diabolical torture is very harsh on a person. Now I, too, have someone who understands my pain…"

"Thank you so much for understanding my feelings, Edward," Hikaru happily replied, as she was still a bit surprised that Ed came out of nowhere and stated that.

Winry thought that this actually wasn't a good time to pummel the two young Alchemists for calling her evil. She didn't feel like it was right to ruin their moment of fun, so she let the two enjoy it while it lasts.

"Ed's acting awfully 'chummy' with her lately." Ross noticed.

"Perhaps it's 'cause she reminds him of someone who was so dear to him in his childhood." Winry explained and began to think deeply about the past, back when they all still lived happily in Resembool. "That's probably what gave me a creepy familiar feeling around Hikaru. She looks so much like our childhood friend Naoki. Her real name is Natsuki, but everyone calls her Naoki. She first came to the Elric house one rainy day…"

------------------------

"Hey, Winry!" little Edward shouted as he heard a knock on the door. "Can you open the door? Al and I are busy reading right now."

"All right. All right. I'll open the door." Winry replied as she opened it. She instantly let out a thunderous shriek that rivaled against the sound of thunder in the dark, rainy sky.

"What's the matter, Winry?" Ed's mother, Trisha Elric, questioned, as she hurried over to Winry. The two Elric brothers also rushed over to see what happened and both of them were stunned at their sight.

There, stood at their doorway, was a small black-haired girl about the same age as Ed and Winry. She was drenched from the pouring rain, as well as her own blood. The poor girl was bleeding all over. She held her broken arm, as she looked into their eyes with fear and sorrow.

"P-Please help me…" the crying girl pleaded. "There are people after me! Can you please help me?"

Being the kind mother she is, Trisha agreed to help her. She told Ed to carry the girl over to an extra room where she can treat her wounds. She then had Al and Winry clean up the blood trails to hide any evidence of the girl being at their home.

As the Trisha tried to stop the bleeding, the girl began to speak once again after collapsing from exhaustion when Ed was taking her to the room. "If those people come to the door and ask for my name, can you please not tell them that I'm here?" she begged.

"Of course, dear." Trisha benevolently answered. "How could I ever turn in a little girl to people that are going to kill her."

"Thank you so much, miss…When I get better, I'll repay you're kindness."

"It's really not that necessary, but probably I do need some help. Taking care of two boys by myself is such hard work. Besides, you're about the same age as them. I'm sure you guys will get along just fine." She gave the little girl a really heartwarming smile, and took care of her as if she were her own daughter. "Anyway, what is your name, dear?"

"My name's Natsuki. I can't say my last name or else everyone could easily figure out who I am, since my big brother's in the military and rising up the ranks at a fast pace. This angered many of the lower ranked officers he was with, so he's not liked much around work. But the bad people who after me have nothing to do with the military, but some other problem my father caused. So just call me Naoki. It's best if my name doesn't go around here and over to them. I don't want to endanger you and your family."

"You're such a sweet girl. It's almost like you're any mother's perfect dream daughter. No, it's more like you're the perfect child, or even human." As she spoke, Ed suddenly came up to the room and notified his mother that there was knock at the door. Trisha instructed her son to stay and take care of Natsuki, while she went to see was at their doorway. From there she quickly left the room. Ed closed the room door, but didn't notice that Al and Winry were hiding behind it and are now listening in on any future discussions. Without any idea of the secret eavesdroppers, he sat down in his mother's seat, seeing if there is anything her can help with.

"Do you need me to do anything?" Ed kindly asked, as he tried to hide his shy-self from his visitor.

"Probably just a cold towel on my forehead, and that should be good." Natsuki replied and gave him a sweet smile. The young couldn't help, but blush when he saw her face. He used the small towel in the water bucket already set there and carefully placed it on her forehead. Natsuki relaxed herself as the cold towel cooled down her rising body temperature.

"So your name is Natsuki, right?" he said, trying to lift the silence between them. His heart was strangely beating quicker than usual and his face still remained as red as ever.

"Yup. It's a strange name, isn't it?" She casually spoke back and quietly laughed to herself from Ed's shy emotions.

"It's not strange…just rather unique. I never heard a name like that before here in Resembool, even in Amestris."

"My brother has an Amestrian kind of name, only 'cause my father gave him that name. But he wasn't there when my sisters and I were born, so my mother named us. She was always interested in the eastern country of Xing, and so she gave us Xingnese names."

"Whoa! You have a highly amazing vocabulary!" Ed acknowledged, as he astounded by her intelligence.

"That's 'cause I read a lot back home. My brother has tons Alchemy books, since he's a State Alchemist."

"So you practice Alchemy?!" Ed shouted excitingly

"Of course." She smiled. "I can tell you're crazy for Alchemy."

"Definitely!" he returned her smile with his own toothy grin. "Who knew I'd end up meeting an Alchemist-in-training, like me?" The two began to exchange the knowledge of Alchemy with each other, and soon they quickly became good friends. Al and Winry couldn't help but enjoy themselves as they listened in on Ed and Natsuki's conversation.

Over at the front door, Trisha greeted the mysterious people who came up. They were two strange looking men dressed in dark suits. Their well-groomed hair was now a mess thanks to the pouring rain, and it seems they came a long way to deal with a troublesome errand. However, they did their best to be polite to Trisha.

"Excuse me, miss," The first man said as he bowed, "sorry to bother you at a time like this, but have you seen a little girl with black hair around here? Her name is Natsuki."

She instantly knew that these were the people that were after Natsuki. The man that greeted here had a handgun slipped carelessly inside his jacket pocket. Other than the noticeable weapon, he and his companion had blood drenched on their boots, as well as the bottom of their pants. Also, there was some kind of evil glint in their eyes that caused chills to go down the mother's spine. These men may look and sound well mannered, but, in truth, they're cold-hearted and bitter. By the way the man greeted her with his peculiar grin, she could tell that this man loved to torture his victims in the cruelest ways possible. The other man, however, was more of the serious type. He always stood straight and has not spoken a single word yet. The strangest thing about him is that he wore sunglasses in the weather lacking sunlight. Since she's a very protective mother, Trisha's instincts are hardly ever inaccurate.

"Who are you?" She questioned them.

"Please excuse my companion," the second man wearing the sunglasses soon spoke, "He simply has forgotten that it's customary to introduce oneself first. We are of a 'trash-disposing' company over in Central City."

"Why would a company like that come all the way out here to Resembool?"

"You see here, miss," the first man explained, "there was one problem child that would always get in the way of our 'business', and our boss would like it very much if we brought the kid back to him to talk things thoroughly."

"Who is this child?" Trisha asked, trying to sound like she's interested in the subject.

"Her name is Natsuki. She's from the same place as us. She lives with her older brother and two younger sisters. Her older brother works in the military, so he can afford to take care of his family. They don't have any parents after all. Their mother was a good woman, but soon passed away after giving birth to Natsuki and her sisters. Their father, on the other hand caused a lot of problems for us, and he too soon left to escape from the hardship that he, alone, faced. But other than her simple family background, Natsuki is actually pretty famous around the really large city of Central. The kid's a genius and at a really young age, too. Everyone called her Macchina the Prodigy, 'cause she worked with everything so perfectly like a highly advanced machine would. You know, 'cause Macchina means Machine in its Latin roots, right? Anyway…she was perfect in the way that she started reading at an early age, can create beautiful art flawlessly, and can repair anything for people using her simple knowledge of mechanics. These would be traits you'd expect an adult to have, but with a kid having skills like that…man, that is definitely what you would call unique. She may be popular with everyone, but not every real human is perfect. We call her a problem child and we need to find her for our boss. So have you seen her, miss?"

Trisha took a moment to put all that information into her brain before she finally gave him an answer. "I'm sorry to say, but I haven't, sir. Resembool is a small town out in the country, so we don't usually know much about what is happening in the larger cities."

"Thank you for your time, miss." The man in the shades said as he and his partner bowed. "I apologize for the inconvenience." He then walked away from the doorway with the other man following. Both of them were not aware of Trisha's lie, and soon left from her sight.

She quickly closed the front door and ran back to the room where she kept Natsuki. The mother suddenly stopped in her tracks when she noticed that Ed, Al, and Winry were all listening in on her conversation with the two strange men.

"So you three heard everything, huh?" she asked as she placed her hands on her hips. The three kids gave her an honest nod and hoped that they wouldn't get punished for doing so. Fortunately for them, she wasn't going to and gave them all a smile instead. "Well, at least it saves me time explaining if you guys asks later. So if you're expecting a punishment, feel lucky, since I'm not planning to give you one this time." The three were instantly relieved and they all walked back in the room where they saw Natsuki giving out a small laugh.

"Hey, what so funny?" Ed immediately asks.

"I guess now you know mostly everything about me." She said with a smile.

"Well actually, at the beginning we were assuming that you might be the child genius Natsuki." Trisha stated.

"I thought Resembool didn't know anything about what happens in the bigger cities."

"That's the power of a white lie." The mother laughed, "We do receive news and highlights, but no one in Resembool are ever willing to tell the truth. That way we're never involved in any big troubles."

"Now that is clever." Natsuki commented.

"So who are those men that were after you?" Winry asked curiously.

A disgusted look came upon the young prodigy's face, as she explained their identity, "Those two are part of a hidden mafia in Central. By the sounds of their voices, I can tell the one who spoke the most is named Amaro, while his quiet partner is named Morte. They're in charge of keeping tabs on my family, since my father still owed the mafia money. That's probably how they know the basics of my personal life. The life that people on the outside see as perfect, but in reality it's far from it." She then became lost in her thoughts as she continued. "People only see me for my abilities. So what if I can read, write, perform alchemy, draw pictures, and build stuff. I only do so to make my brother happy, since he works so hard to take care of our family. They only think I'm great at it. For real, I'm only novice at Alchemy and whatever I build, usually is a compilation of anything I can find. The only thing I can count at being great at is drawing. You see this whole Macchina prodigy thing doesn't really exist. Macchina only exists in our dreams, in our desires to obtain perfection. I guess that's how they blew my life story and talents a little out of proportion. They only dream of a perfect child, but there's absolutely no such thing as a perfect person."

The four were amazed to hear the truth of Natsuki's story. So it was only a myth. The perfect child prodigy that everyone knows of doesn't truly exist. Like what she said, there's no such thing as a perfect person.

"Is there something wrong?" Natsuki wondered because none of them spoke since she finished her story. "I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me and think my life is just a sob story. Excluding the whole mafia part, it's an average household. And I'm happy with the family I have."

"No it's not that." Trisha spoke. "It's just that it's a big shocker for someone your age to be going through a lot like that. And you speak like you have much knowledge."

"That's what happens when you tons of books when you're bored. I'm surprised that I don't need glasses yet."

"You know, another surprising thing is that I, too, imagined you to be perfect only from first meeting you. Maybe that's only because you were so sweet and polite."

"I guess so."

"Hey, if you need help with mechanics, I'm here for ya!" Winry exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. She held out her hand to Natsuki, and Natsuki can tell by that statement that Winry wants to be her friend. She was a bit astounded by this, but a smile quickly grew on her face, as she slowly placed her hand on Winry's.

Suddenly two more hands slapped themselves on Natsuki's. Both girls were surprised to see both Elric brothers joining in. Al gave his usual happy smile, while Ed gave her his toothy grin. "And for Alchemy, you can practice with us!" Both of the brothers simultaneously exclaimed. Trisha was so delighted to see the four getting along perfectly. She knew that she was no longer needed in the room, so she left with a content smile on her face.

"You guys need me to do anything in return for this?" Natsuki asked, still holding her hand in place.

"I can't think of anything really." Al answered, as he too left his hand on top of his brother's.

"You did say you're really good at drawing, right Natsuki?" Winry questioned.

"Yeah," Natsuki answered, "By the way call me Naoki. It's much better if my real name doesn't spread around town."

"All right then, Naoki." Ed replied, while clutching her hand tightly, causing her to blush a little bit. "Maybe you can help us draw, better. Al and I can't really get some Alchemy circles straight."

Natsuki chuckled as Winry made another suggestion, "You can probably help me with drawing, too. Drawing out blueprints for my grandma can be a pain at times, especially since I can't draw."

"Then this is just like Equivalent Exchange, isn't it?" Natsuki laughed.

"That's how life works." Al said, "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange."

And with that, the four lowered their hands down, and then threw them high in the hair, letting out a big cheer. So it was decided that Natsuki would stay in Resembool until it was safe for her to return to her home in Central. With Natsuki, Ed, Al, and Winry all knew that a new adventure would start soon, and they were prepared for whatever's ahead of them. The four kids gave each other laughing smiles, knowing that this is the beginning of a brand new friendship that will last for a lifetime.