Yosh!!! Update! It's a bit short but the new stuff is after the flashback. I plan to have the next chapter out soon. Don't know how soon though.

I'd like to thank everyone first off for reading and sending me reviews, but, and I know this is asking a lot, PLEASE REVIEW MORE!!! The reviews I've gotten are few and far between I realize that there are really only two chapters and not much has happened but please review. bows

Chapter 2

Chance Meeting

The light dimmed to a now bearable medium as solid ground began to materialize under Ed and Al's feet. Opening their eyes they looked around at their surroundings, a small clearing within a forest. The two carefully studied this sudden change in scenery when in suddenly hit them… They made it. They actually made it through the gate! Immediately the blonds were on their feet with a quick strong embrace and much shouting, "We did! We actually made it!" Suddenly Ed stopped and pushed his brother away to arms length. "HOLY SHIT AL! WHEN'D YOU GET SO TALL?"

Confused Al looked at his brother, and sure enough he was nearly a quarter of a head taller than him, then his gaze fell on his brother's face. Al's face twisted with shock and horror. "Ed… I didn't get taller. When we went through the gate we must have had a short process of age reverse…"

Ed looked at Al, and sure enough he looked only about 15, which would make himself only 16. Suddenly Ed's entire person dropped into despair, "So what you're saying is I'm short again…"

Al nodded, "That's what it looks like brother."

The light was so bright… too bright as a matter of fact. Naruto grumbled to himself and sat upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Yawning widely it took a few moments for his eyes to register his surroundings. The room wasn't in very good condition, boards hung loosely from the walls in random places. Suddenly everything came back to him in a flash. He jumped from his bed in a start, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice. He quickly scanned the room to find three empty bed rolls. Oh… he thought to himself in realization. Seems everyone is already awake. Groggily the blonde pulled his nightcap off and dressed into his favorite orange clothing and headed out the room. Once in the hall he could hear Sakura commenting on how great Sasuke looked and how impressed she was with how much he was improving thanks to Kakashi's training. Oh god… why does she have to do that so early in the morning. Naruto sulked to himself. At one time he would have loved to have been on the receiving end of her glorious praise, but lately he'd lost interest. He began to realize that he probably didn't want a bitchy, violent, quick tempered girl like her. (Sakura Storm Troopers, please don't kill me yet. I just really don't like the way that she treated Naruto. Who knows, she might change) Naruto mentally shrugged to himself and rounded the corner in the hall to the dining room.

Sasuke was sitting at the table looking positively annoyed at the constantly chattering Sakura sitting right next to him. He was sitting, arms crossed, head tilted down, with his eyes closed to try to hide the twitch.

Naruto almost felt bad for his teammate… ALMOST. He shrugged to and thought to himself, He'll owe me for this one later. Putting on a face that said, it's too early to be alive yet, he turned to Sakura. "Oi, Sakura… Would ya keep the flirting to a minimum in the morning?"

Sakura turned to her other teammate with a look that said, YOU BASTARD!!! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME!!!!! Quicker that Naruto could blink; Sakura leapt from her seat and pounded her fist into Naruto's face, sending him flying out the front door. (Can't have them destroying Tsunami's house, now can we?) "Naruto, you idiot!"

As Naruto was peeling himself off the ground, Sasuke came to lean on the door frame and looked at Naruto. "Don't get Sakura so riled up so early in the morning, dobe." Sasuke commented with a smirk.

Naruto grinned, "Then maybe it's about time you took care of your own problems you dark and brooding bastard." Naruto stood and dusted himself off.

Sasuke smiled in spite of himself. He liked Naruto. If there was one person in the world that he could trust it would be him, he probably even considered him a brother… maybe. He couldn't help but smile to himself when Sakura dashed out the door and began to chase Naruto around the yard for his earlier comment. Watching the two, he almost missed Tsunami walking up the path to the house, with two blonds in tow.

Now, Naruto wasn't keen on getting hit by Sakura a second time… at least not twice in the same hour. Dodging and ducking, he managed to avoid her wild punches and kicks. Naruto jumped back to put some distance between them but came to a sudden stop when he bumped into someone behind him.

Both him and one of the blonds with Tsunami tumbled to the ground in an orange and red blur. The unknown blond jumped to his feet and yelled down to Naruto, "What's the big idea attacking me like that?"

"NARUTO!"

Hearing the yell the blond turned to the pink haired demon that quickly closed the distance between them. Sakura was charging the pair, fist drawn back, ready to strike. The blond quickly dropped low and grabbed her wrist with his right hand, using her momentum to throw her to the ground with a thud.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING ATTACKING ME OUT OF NOWHERE!?" The blond screamed in surprise.

Shocked, Naruto made his way to his feet. Never in his life had he seen someone so easily throw Sakura to the ground like that, well, nobody that wasn't a ninja anyway. This guy didn't even have a headband, let alone the fact that he didn't even look like a ninja. Sasuke appeared behind the new blond, throwing him a threatening glare, "Just who the hell are you?"

"Who am I? No. Who the hell are you? You stuck up, emo, brat?" The blond countered, sounding much older than he actually looked.

"Brat?" Sasuke asked. This boy couldn't be much older than him… not judging by his height anyway.

"That's what I said, don't make me repeat myself. Now, I want names." The blond demanded.

"Umm, Ed. Take it easy… I'm sure that there is a reasonable explanation," The other unknown blond said soothingly.

The newly dubbed Ed looked to his counterpart and look alike, "Al… you're just too soft." At this Al shook his head. His brother was such a hothead. "Fine..." Ed looked to the trio; Sakura had gotten off the ground and now stood next to Naruto and Sasuke, looking a bit shaken up. "The name's Elric Edward," he said and then pointed at Al, "and this is my little brother Alphonse, or just Ed and Al." Ed looked to Sasuke, "Your turn."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," He then pointed to Sakura, "Haruno Sakura, and the ..." He was cut off by the blond.

"Name's Uzumaki Naruto!" He had a look that radiated pride, and suddenly switched to one of awe. "How did you do that to Sakura earlier? Are you ninja? Where did you train? Can you show me how to do that?" Naruto spouted off so many questions, Ed felt his mind swirling in confusion.

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow t down…" Ed tried to calm Naruto. Ed was beginning to feel excited himself, it had been less than a day since their arrival in this new world and they had already found the people they were looking for.

"Who are these people?" A voice spoke.

Everyone turned to see a silver haired ninja with a black face mask. He wore black pants and a black shirt with a green vest over top. A headband with the leaf symbol covered his left eye. He was walking on crutches. He cleared his throat. "I repeat. Who are these two?"

Almost forgotten, Tsunami spoke up. "These two boys helped me out earlier today on my way home."

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow, "I'd like to hear the whole story inside please." Kakashi turned and walked into the house.

The rest of the party followed after the silver haired jonin into the house.

The seven shuffled into the small cramped dining room and sat in the old wooden chairs at the table. Kakashi sat at the head and glared at the pair sitting just opposite him. "Ok, let's start with names," Kakashi said with a slight menace in his voice.

"Like I said before, the names Ed, and this here is my little brother, Al." Ed said, completely ignoring the glare that Kakashi was giving him. "Now, what's yours?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here shrimp." Kakashi said snappily

Ed's eye began to twitch as Al noticed the mad fury growing inside his brother. Al put his hand on Ed's shoulder to calm him. "Please. We'd like to at least know who we're talking to here."

Kakashi sighed; negotiations were going to be difficult with these two. "Hatake Kakashi. Next questions; where are you from? Why are you here?"

After several deep breaths and a count to ten Ed answered with a shrug, "We're from a village a long ways from here; it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. As a matter of fact, we didn't even know about ninja villages until we left." At this Kakashi raised an eyebrow (the visible one) and the rest of the group gasped in astonishment. "As for why we are here; we're just wandering learning about the world and what we can."

Naruto shook his head to clear it. Had he heard him right? Did this guy actually say he had never heard of ninja villages before? The only thing that ran through his mind was, IMPOSSIBLE! Naruto jumped from his seat and thrust his finger out at Ed, "Your lying aren't you!"

Ed raised an eyebrow. "This is the honest to God truth."

Finally, Sasuke had enough. "Enough dancing around the subject. Exactly how did you run into Tsunami?" Sasuke finally asked the one question on everyone's mind. (Well… except Naruto's, he was still wondering about the whole ninja village thing.)

Tsunami smiled gently, "Ah, yes, I nearly forgot." Tsunami waved a hand at the two boys, "These two helped me on my way home; I ran into a little trouble."

Ed and Al grinned, "It was nothing. Anyone else would have helped out too."

Kakashi and the rest of team 7 leaned in, "Really?" Kakashi asked expectantly.

Tsunami nodded, "Well, was when I was on my way home from the village getting some groceries."

Flashback

Tsunami was making her way down the peaceful forest path back to the house from the town just beyond the hill behind her. The birds were merrily chirping and small woodland creatures were going about their daily business, oblivious to woman traveling alone.

"Those ninja sure eat a lot more than I expected… I can't believe we're already out of food, and how long did they say they were going to stay?" Tsunami absently thought out loud. She stumbled over a rut in the path, nearly dropping the food she bought. "Careful Tsunami, can't have you dropping all the food," she said once again to herself.

She had just rounded a bend in the path when she spotted three rugged men dressed in rags. All three of them wore pretty much the same drab, torn, dirty brown clothes with daggers at their sides.

The first and smallest of the three glanced up and looked at Tsunami, "Well, look what we got here boys."

The other two looked up now as well, grinning and chuckling stupidly. These two were the obvious muscle of the group; they were both about medium build but looked at least able to handle their own in a fight. "Its dangerous fer li'l girls ta be walkin round alone, doncha know?" One of the bigger men said as he closed in on Tsunami. Tsunami backed away slowly, tightly clutching the bag of groceries to herself.

A rustle in the bushes just off the road caught the bandits' attention. "Al… You know better than to tease me about my height…." A blond with enchanting golden eyes said as he stepped onto the path with another blond in tow.

"I wasn't teasing you brother…. I was just a little surprised is all…" Al looked at the bandits and then to Tsunami. "I'm sorry. We seem to be interrupting something here."

Tsunami looked at the two blonds, "Hurry! Run! They're bandits!" she shouted worriedly.

Ed grinned widely. "Hey Al, it looks like we'll be able to test out alchemy out a little sooner than expected.

Al looked to Ed and sighed. He ALWAYS got like this before a fight. "How do I even put up with you? Jumping at the first chance to get into a fight and we only just got here."

The bandit leader blinked. Did he just hear them right? "Hah, like two shrimps like you could do anything to us!"

That was the last straw. Sure Ed hadn't been called short in several years. Sure he had become less 'enthusiastic' about punishing the people who called him short. SURE he had reverted to a younger body, but that didn't change the fact that he didn't like it anymore. Ed flew off the handle. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC ANT THAT YOU CAN ONLY SEE WITH A MICROSCOPE?"

Al sighed, "Here he goes again," and stepped back a few feet to give his brother a clear runway.

Fast as lightening Ed grabbed the two hulks by their collars and smashed their heads together. Ed threw the two at the feet of the remaining bandit. The leader bandit's mouth dropped to the ground and Tsunami decided it would be a good idea to give Ed his space… LOTS of space.

"Ju… Just who the hell are you!?" The bandit stammered looking between his two groaning companions and the infuriated blond.

"Names Ed, the Fullmetal Alchemist, or for you three; Death!" Ed replied as he cracked his knuckles.

The bandit quickly fumbled around for his dagger and pulled it up in front of himself. The bandit forced a cocky grin, "What now brat? I've got a weapon!" Ed stopped and looked at the bandit who began to laugh. The bandit lunged at Ed with his dagger and thrust it at Ed's stomach. Quickly Ed shifted to the side and fluidly dodged the thrust. The bandit followed up with a side slash meant for Ed's abdomen. Ed jumped back to distance them.

Ed slammed his hands together and grinned, "Who said I didn't have a weapon?" A bright light flashed from Ed's arm. Just as suddenly as the light came it left, leaving a very pointy looking weapon in place of his arm. Suddenly Ed leapt at the startled bandit who left himself completely open. Ed slammed his elbow into the unsuspecting bandit, who doubled over in pain. Ed grabbed the front of the bandit's shirt and held his sword arm to his throat.

"Beg me for mercy and I might let you live."

The bandit looked to Ed, fear in his eyes, "Ye… Yes! Please! Spare me! I take it back! You're not sho…"

Ed cut the bandit off with a swift blow to the head. "Idiot. I hate even hearing that word." Ed stood to his feet and dusted himself off. He looked over to Al who was shaking his head. "What? What did I do?"

End Flashback

Kakashi looked at the two boys sitting across from him. Apparently he would have to reappraise them. They hold some strange power that he had never heard of, I mean, c'mon… a jutsu that turns your arm into a sword, and not like his Raikiri, no this was a metal one by the sounds of it. THAT wasn't likely. Not only did they seem to be able to fight but they gave off an aura of calm and peace that made Kakashi seem to want to trust them… and that NEVER happened. He'd always been taught to distrust until given reason to trust someone. Kakashi forced himself out of his mental stupor when he noticed everyone staring at the usually collected jounin.

Kakashi waved his hand nonchalantly, "Sorry. Zoned out for a second." Kakashi looked around at everyone and turned back to Ed and Al, "Where did you say you were from again?"

"Resembool," Ed answered nonchalantly. Suddenly he stiffened. SHIT!!!! I can't believe I let that slip! Hopefully, a Resembool either doesn't exist here or it really IS small! Al stiffened as well when he heard his elder brother's answer. Both boys prayed hard then, to whatever deity might be listening.

Kakashi shrugged, Hm. Never heard of it." Both boys instantly relaxed at hearing that but not without Kakashi noting it. "Not to be rude but how long are you planning on staying in this area?"

"We were just on our way out actually. We were thinking of heading south." Al lied. They didn't plan on going very far, maybe into the woods a ways to train. After all, they hadn't used alchemy in almost two years, and this placed felt a little strange to them. There were many strange energies that float around.

Kakashi nodded, "I see…" He looked at them lazily.

Ed smiled, "Well. We really should be on our way." He began to stand to his feet when Tsunami interrupted him.

"Please, allow me to thank you! At least stay for a meal."

Al shook his head, "No reward is needed. We only did what anyone else would have done." Ed nodded in agreement

Tsunami shook her head, "I insist you stay. You must be tired from your travels."

Ed sighed; he just wasn't in the mood for arguing, "Fine. As reward you can point us in the direction the nearest town is. We need some things before we get back to our travels."

Tsunami frowned, "I see." She stood from the table and walked into the next room. Ed and Al looked at each other confused, as did the rest at the table aside from Kakashi, who, as usual, looked about in an uninterested fashion. Moments later Tsunami emerged from the nearby room and in her hands, she held a few small coins. She walked up to the two blond haired boys and gave them the coins. "It's not much," She said, "But I hope it can get you to your next destination." Then it dawned on them. They didn't have ANY of this world's currency, and without money, how could they finish their mission. Ed shrugged mentally, we can always worry about that later, besides, we have alchemy to help out.

The two boys bowed, truly grateful, "Thank you, Tsunami." Tsunami blushed at the sign of gratitude.

"Please boys. I was only returning the favor, besides it's not much."

Ed looked up smiling, "Well. I guess we should get going."

Tsunami smiled and led them out the door, pointing them into the direction of town. She stood there and watched them disappear into the woods. "I wonder if we'll ever see them again." Someone said from next to her. Tsunami jumped and turned to find Naruto standing next to her.

"I'm sure you will Naruto."

Naruto looked up to her and smiled, "I have a feeling your right."

Once they were a good distance away from the house Ed turned to Al excitedly, "I can't believe we found them so EASILY!" Ed threw his fist into the air. "I mean; what luck that Tsunami had them at her home!"

Al nodded, obviously distracted by something. Ed noticed, "What's wrong Al?"

Al looked to his brother, "Oh, just thinking." Ed raised an eyebrow, signaling Al to continue, "They're NINJA, Ed. Why would they need out help? Shouldn't ninja be able to take care of themselves?"

Ed nodded, "I see." Then he shrugged. "No sense in dwelling on it. We'll just ask ol' fuzzy the next time we see him." Ed's mouth stretched into a mischievous grin,
"Besides, we've got enough of a problem on our hands."

Al looked at Ed confused, "What problem?"

"It's been a while since we trained using alchemy, AND since we sparred." Al's eyes grew large, "It's about time we see which of us is the superior isn't it Al?"

Al grinned, he knew his brother all too well. "Of course Ed." He fell into his fighting stance and Ed into his, "Just don't expect me to go easy on you because you're shorter than me!"

Ed's face flushed a deep red color, "DAMN IT AL!!! I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT!" and Ed lunged at Al.

Thanks for reading and please review, also, I'm trying to come up with some good pairings so if anyone has a favorite pairing or even a unique one, please let me know.