A/N: Oh wow, this was a long one. 6 pages! O.o Anyways,

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from FMA! (as always)

…It was a cloudy day. Dozens of grey puffs clouded the sun, letting only shreds of light through. They all looked somewhat the same, too. You could barely tell the two clouds that were near the gap, letting the light shine through, were those same clouds that were there from the very beginning. Is a storm coming? ...

1st person POV:

It was all very quiet.

I had my chin on my hand, with my elbow propped against the window. I was watching the blurred shapes pass me, occasionally being able to make out a shop or tree. I remembered this road. I had traveled it with Ed and Al when they were trying to become state alchemists.

Wistful memories would pass along my mind when I saw a place I recognized. Like that huge tree we'd play under. Or that restaurant over there that we stopped by to eat. Maybe that telephone booth where we tried to place a call to the Colonel Roy Mustang, but couldn't because we had spent all our money buying ice cream.

I laughed quietly at that one. It had been my fault.

Major Armstrong was sitting across from me, staring at the wall behind me. I wondered what was so interesting. Probably just his military alertness habits.

Ed was gone; he had claimed he had to go to the bathroom the moment the train started moving at full speed. Nice timing, I had thought. At first, it was sarcastic. It was only now that I realized he was probably holding it until the moment he was sure I wouldn't try and make a dash for it. Couldn't was probably the better word. There was no way I could escape big muscles over here.

"What's your sister like?" I asked, absentmindedly after a moment.

Major seemed surprised by my question. "Oh, she's… a good person."

"Oh."

"I hear she's tough."

"Yeah."

It was silent again. Wow, were we bad at making conversations or what? Major Armstrong wasn't even bothering to do his dramatic-taking-off-the-shirt thing anymore.

A few minutes passed. I sighed and turned my head away from the window.

"What about the Colonel?"

"Colonel?" he repeated, questioningly.

"Colonel Mustang. He was the one who got Ed involved with all the state alchemist mumbo-jumbo stuff."

"You mean the Fuhrer," corrected Major Armstrong.

"Yeah, him," I said bored, not knowing what the big deal was. Fuhrer, Colonel, Major, all I knew was that I was never going to be involved with that big mess.

A little bothered by my obvious indifference, he said stiffly, "Fuhrer Mustang is a grea-"

"And horrible man," came Ed's voice. He was leaning on the doorway of our compartment. Major Armstrong did a double-take. I had to admit, he was like he had appeared out of nowhere…that is, if his footsteps hadn't given him away. Jeez, that auto-mail leg? As much as it came in handy when taking down the baddies, I could hear it from a mile away (okay not really, but you know what I mean).

I think Ed pulled a trigger. Major Armstrong had his shirt off…again.

"THE FUHRER IS A WONDERFUL MAN, EDWARD ELRIC. YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND HIM LIKE- WHOAAA!"

Ed had pushed the Major off of the seat he was standing on, his eyebrow twitching in apparent annoyance. He then flung him his shirt. Whoo-hoo, way to go, Ed.

"Mustang pisses me off," he grumbled. Even I was smart enough not to argue with him.

Luckily, I felt the train start to slow down, and soon, we were at Central.

Major Armstrong cleared his throat and claimed, "This is my stop now."

"Kay," I said. Why announce it?

"I'm going now."

"Uh-huh."

"Right now. To Central."

"Yup." I was started to get irritated. I felt so oblivious.

"So, bye then," he said slowly.

"Bye," I waved simply.

"I'm off to Central…"

"WE GET IT!" Ed and I both shouted.

Major just sighed. Apparently he thought we weren't even close to "getting" it.

Then, out of nowhere, he started dragging us off the train with him. Although it was probably a little over 200 pounds, not counting the fact that we were struggling like slippery fish, he pulled us with ease.

Once the train had safely left the station, without us, he left go.

"What the heck was that for, Major?" I snarled.

"Come on! You need to pay a visit to the Fuhrer. Especially you, Edward Elric."

Ed seemed like he'd rather drink a cup of milk than do that…'nuf said.

"Why would we ever want to do that?"

Major Armstrong studied our stubborn and upset faces. Then, he faced me. I turned cautious.

"What?"

"Riza Hawkeye will be there," he said smoothly.

My jaw cracked open. Whoa whoa whoa, wait. Hawkeye?

"You can meet her," he continued, his voice was sweet as honey.

Seriously? The Hawkeye? She was a legend in far-range weapons!

My eyes widened. I whirled around to look at Ed. I glared at him. So did Major. It was his turn to feel wary now…

"AHHHH! NOOO! STOP-UGH- IT! I DON'T WANT TO GOOO!" yelled Ed as we each took one of his arms and lugged him towards the Central building.

"You're coming and that's the end of it," I growled.

When we were inside, Major Armstrong had to sign in and all that government stuff in order to arrange a meeting, so it was up to me to contain this runaway beast now.

As sudden as a flash, I whipped around and pulled him in a headlock. Hey, my training was coming in handy! Who knew?

"You're not going anywhere," I breathed.

He groaned, "It's all because of Lieutenant Hawkeye, isn't it?"

Ah, he knew me.

"He can't be that bad," I pleaded.

"You haven't met him yet," he grumbled.

I sighed. "Fine then." I let him go.

He turned around, eyes suspicious. "Wait, just like that?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. If you don't want to go, then you don't want to go."

He didn't believe me. "No such thing as a free lunch…,"

I nodded. "So? Why don't you go? I'll stay here and then you can go back to Resembool."

He finally understood. "Blackmail, is it?" he complained. "You're very evil."

I smiled happily. He rolled his eyes, but at least it looked like he was giving in.

Major Armstrong came back and thundered, "Guess what! Lieutenant Hawkeye is at the sniping range, and the Fuhrer is with her. You can go there right now."

I was heaving Ed out the door before he could finish his sentence.

-F.F. to Sniping Range-

"Oh my god!" I squealed. "Look! There she is!"

I watched her carefully as she sniped down each and every one of the targets with flawless accuracy. Beside me, Ed sighed at my obsession.

"Fullmetal?" I heard a voice behind me call.

Ed cursed and turned around. Based on his uniform, it must be King Mustang.

"Hey, Fullmetal, what are you doing here?"

"Following her," muttered Ed, pointing to me.

"Oh, and who's this beauty that you're following?" He turned to me.

"Ah, it's an honor to meet you, King Mustang." I couldn't help but blush. "I'm Yumi Akiyama."

"No need for formalities for a pretty, young girl like you. Call me Roy."

I blushed again. It had been sometime since I had got compliments like these. Ed stared at my faintly pink cheeks inconceivably and then mumbled gruffly, "Just another reason to hate him."

"What's that, Fullmetal?"

"Ah, nothing," he said quickly.

"Anyways, I saw you looking at my Lieutenant before. Would you like to meet her?"

I saw the twinkle in his eye when he said "my".

"Yes!" I said, just a little too excited.

He chuckled and walked us over.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, it seems you have a fan here."

She was surprised.

I blushed, "Erm, not a fan. Just that I've heard about your amazing accuracy."

"So, in other words, a fan," repeated the Fuhrer- um, Roy.

I blushed harder.

"And, apparently, Fullmetal is stopping by for a friendly visit."

"Ah, Edward, how are you?" They shook hands.

"Fine," he said sharply. What a violent mood that was emerging from him. Lighten up, for god's sake!

"And, who is this?"

"Yumi Akiyama. I'm an archer."

She raised an eyebrow. "Hmm…are you any good?" she mused.

"I manage fairly well," I smiled devilishly.

"Would you like to try?" motioned Lieutenant.

"Here?"

She nodded, "Yes. It's a sniping range, so the targets will be a little far for a regular bow and arrow, but since you're hanging out with Edward, I should probably assume you're better than you look."
"Smart," I murmured, taking out my bow. "So, ten of them?"

She nodded again. "But, no one really expects you to hit all ten. It's harder than it looks."

I focused on the little, red targets that decorated the field below and in front of me. Indeed, it wouldn't be easy. The targets were pretty small, and some were hidden behind some trees or bushes. I would have to spin the arrow to hit those.

"Is there a timer or something?"

"Yeah. I'll start it when you string your first arrow."

"M-kay. What's your best time?"

Lieutenant chuckled, "43 seconds."

I gave a low whistle. "Wow."

"I think you should just focus on hitting the targets right now. Don't worry about the time."

"I always worry about the time."

With that, I took an arrow from the case behind my back and strung it. Let's start with the easy ones. The targets were a little farther than I was used to, but again, this was a sniping range after all. I pulled the arrow back more, in order to get more power, and released.

Zip, poof! There was a fast current of air and… bulls-eye!

I continued in this fashion.

Zip, poof! Zip, poof! Zip, poof! Zip, poof!

I heard Roy gasp behind me. I estimated around 20 seconds have passed.

Now for the harder ones. I brought my elbow more to the right and angled my body, so that when I released, the arrow would curl left.

Zip, poof! Zip, poof!

Now, same thing for the right. Zip, poof!

The next target was buried deep beyond the shrubs. It was hard even seeing it. I guess pure power would have to provide here.

I took an arrow and ripped off some of the feathers that helped me aim. The less weight the better. Fortunately, although my work was messy, it only cost me a second or two, before I released the arrow again. Without the feathers, my aim was a slightly wobbly, but it still hit the small white dot in the middle of the target.

The last one was the hardest. It was hidden behind and under tree branches. I would have to make the arrow drop down steeper and faster than usual.

Instead of aiming directly towards it, I judged the distance between myself and the target, and aimed my bow up towards the sky. Letting go, I watched as the arrow made a large arch through the air, and while gravity took its toll, it zoomed down once again. I let out a deep breath of relief as I heard the poof! of the bulls-eye being struck. Any less altitude and the arrow would have landed deep within that pond in front of the old spruce. It was one of my favorite ones too. Excellent control. ^^

"So, how did I do?"

Roy seemed astonished. Ed was looking at him pretentiously, as if bragging on my behalf. Even the Lieutenant looked impressed, which made me happy beyond compare.

"Amazing," assured Ed.

"Incredible. You finished the course perfectly within 41 seconds," said the Lieutenant, holding up the stopwatch.

41 seconds. I knew that I was probably supposed to be ecstatic with my time, a score that some of the most experienced archers wouldn't be able to match, but I had a competitive nature. I couldn't help but feel disappointed when hearing I didn't beat the Hawkeye's time.

"Aw, don't look so down," laughed Lieutenant at my sullen expression. "I didn't do nearly as well on my first try. I know all versions of the course inside and out. I've tried it many times."

My face didn't change.

"Besides, this is a sniper's course, not an archer's. It's easier with a sniper."

I remained the same.

She sighed, "Fine, fine. I'll take you to the archer's range. Is that what you would like?"

I shook my head stubbornly.

Roy seemed thoughtful. "How about we let you try again, except this time with a sniper. Make everything completely fair."

That made me smile. "Really?"

"It's up to the Lieutenant."

"But, can't you order her to, or something?" I pouted.

"He doesn't need to," she chuckled. "I love a good challenge."

Before I could get the chance to jump up and cheer, Ed interrupted my moment of glory to add, "Not now, Yumi."

I moaned, "You're such a party pooper, Ed. Why not?"

"Don't you have to search for your dad?" he pointed out.

Oh. Damn. He was right. That stopped me in my tracks.

"Huh. Thanks for reminding me. I can't believe I almost forgot."

"No problem," he said smugly.

I turned to the Lieutenant.

"Maybe some other time. I need to find someone first."

She looked confused. "Do you need to find your dad? I'm sure he won't mind if you're late a couple of minutes."

I almost giggled at her response. The thought of having a normal curfew and a dad that was waiting for me was very entertaining. Yet so compelling.

"No, I meant, it's like a journey thing like Ed's 2 years back. Someone random dude in a mask stole him and now I need to find him."

"Oh. I'm so sorry," apologized the Lieutenant. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Maybe you could describe him for us? We'd be glad to help you," offered Roy.

"Don't do it, Yumi," warned Ed. "No such thing as a free lunch, remember?"

Roy rolled his eyes, "Fullmetal, I'm not that cheap…but of course, we wouldn't mind if an archer of your level helped us with one or two jobs."

"It's fine, Ed. If it means that it might help get my dad back," I remarked sternly.

"Don't start complaining later then…"

I racked my mind for a decent picture to describe.

"Well, his mask is red and black. His hair is sort of ruffled, and is either a very dark blue or black. I couldn't get close enough to tell. His eyes are a mahogany color. He always wears a dark red jacket with black pants. And, he's very strategic. That's why it's been so hard to pin him down. He's always a step or two ahead of me."

Lieutenant's eyes were wide. She snapped her fingers at Roy.

"Don't we have…," she trailed off.

Roy nodded, and suddenly the air seemed to be all business. He reached into one of his coat pockets, and took out a photo.

"Is this the man you are talking about?" He handed me the picture. I glanced at it, and all the dreadful memories came back. Those few times I had met him, nothing good had come out of them.

The first time was when I had strayed away from Sensei on one of our lessons. She'd given me a brutal yelling about it.

The second a couple of months after I had finished my training. That was when I found out that he killed my mother from one of his pitying guards.

The third I had almost got him. At the last second, one of his servants came in and rescued them. It was later that I realized the "servant" was his right-hand man. I had heard them whispering at the last moment that they should storm the north.

The fourth…would hopefully be the last.

I nodded weakly. Roy's dark eyes deepened with concern.

"We've encountered him only a few times. Although we suspect him of some casualties, he's very good at covering up his steps. There has not been an inkling of proof within the evidence we found."

"He's very tricky," I agreed.

"The only lead we have is that we believe he is in league with this other man."

I glimpsed at it, expecting the servant's face. But it wasn't. Instead, it was a completely different man. One that I knew all too well.

My father.

A/N: So, please review and everything- the usual ^^ Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.