Keeping My Brother

Genre: Crossover
Universe/s: Two FMA'ers land in the Bleach world.
Spoiler Warnings: Set around Bleach anime eps 15-18, but references manga knowledge from a little farther on. Involves the end of the FMA storyline.

Chapter Five : Do I Have To Go Home?

One of them was Jinta and one was Ururu, and Ed wasn't fully sure which name went with which child. He guessed that Jinta was the boy, because surely Urahara wouldn't throw such a jest at such a shy little girl by calling her a stray cat behind her back.

Ed and Al were kneeling on cushions, across the table from Urahara, who had opened his fan and might have been either meditating or regarding them. The hat kept Ed from seeing his eyes, and this made Ed a little edgy. Which is probably the desired effect. Jinta was running in and out of the room with bowls, plates, glasses, tea (but he didn't pour it), and when Al cast his eyes to the side, he could see the very large dark man and the little girl cooking.

Ed cast around for suitable questions to ask... and he had so many. He decided on one that seemed most appropriate for the company present. "Why do you say we are visitors to this world?" Al sat up a little straighter, and Ed wondered how many more questions Al had for him.

"Well, for one, your brother is abominably dressed, yet you are perfectly comfortable, so either you're an awful older brother, or there's a darned good reason you two are like that." Al blushed and looked down, and tugged on his sleeves, as though that would fix things. "For two, Yoruichi wouldn't bring me a couple of normal strays and expect me to feel them, without a darned good reason."

At that moment, the sliding door to the kitchen opened with more force than it had before, and the tall man came out, empty handed, followed by Ururu and Jinta, carrying a tray each with food; a huge container of steamed rice and a nearly-as-large pot of stir fried vegetables and meat. The tall man sat next to Urahara, Ururu sat on the end between Ed and the tall man, and Jinta walked around and sat on the end between Al and Urahara.

"Normally we'd have a more diverse spread, but for getting it done in a hurry, bulk seemed to be a better option. Food first, questions later, sound good?"

Ed opened his mouth to answer, but his stomach growled for him.

Al thought that perhaps his brother ate half the rice and nearly one-third of the stir fry himself. Somehow, it seemed that the food ran out just as everyone got full. Yoruichi had slipped into the room and seated herself neatly between the two men, but stayed silent. Even so, Al got the feeling that she was sizing them up, trying to find information from the very way they moved while eating. Al tried to pace his own eating so that he wouldn't finish too far before his brother... because four years of experience showed him that a hungry Ed would eat either until the food was gone or until he couldn't swallow another grain of rice. Al also ate slowly for another reason... it wasn't exactly that he had 'forgotten how,' but, well... it had been four years since he had picked up chopsticks. Since he had put anything in his mouth. Since he had had a mouth to put anything in. He tried not to glow too much with the sheer enjoyment of tasting food again.

Ed finally put his bowl and sticks down, and bowed his head. "Gochizousama." Al did the same, and added quite truthfully, "That was the best meal I have had in years."

Ururu did something very akin to a very shy beam of happiness. Jinta stood and started stacking dishes, and she followed suit. Urahara spoke: "I would like you two to be present for the conversation, so just leave the dishes in there and come back, please." Then he addressed the brothers. "Now. You have questions, but I only have a few answers. I know you are from a world that is not this one."

"How?" Ed interrupted.

Urahara held Ed's gaze and paused deliberately before answering. "Your Reiraku are... the wrong color."

"Well, what color should it be?" And Al followed with, "What's a Reiraku?"

"A Reiraku is... similar to an aura. Think of it a little bit as... if a woman wore too much perfume and walked around the city, and you could see the trail of perfume hanging in the air. But even differently, if you could stand at some point in the city, even a point where she had not been, and be able to find her by finding her scent. That is a Reiraku."

The boys just looked at him, trying to understand.

"It's a spiritual thing. If you can't see them, there's most probably nothing I can do to teach you." Urahara pinched the air in front of his left shoulder, and pulled his hand out and away, and seemed to lace an invisible string around his fan and hold it out for display. Ed and Al looked at the air, at each other, and made a small shrugging motion each. Urahara likewise shrugged and dropped his hands.

Al asked, "What's the point of a Reiraku?"

"What's the point of an aura, of your hair color, of your breath? It doesn't have a point, it just is. However, it can tell you a little bit about who a person is. People of this world normally have translucent white Reiraku. However, I imagine Yoruichi was intrigued by a couple of clueless boys sporting bright blue Reiraku."

Yoruichi spoke. "I found them in the park next to where Ichigo slashed the Menos Grande. They're not dressed like they're from around here, and the conversation I was witness to was a little... specialized. Sitting in a bush and being amazed you have a leg is not an everyday conversation. I've only heard once of someone with a blue Reiraku."

Ed sat up a little straighter. "What was his name? Hohenheim? Was he in a city named... um... London?"

Yoruichi blinked at him and paused before answering, either weighing her words or searching her memory, Ed couldn't read feline facial expressions well. "Hohenheim... perhaps. He dabbled in what these people call magic, and was occassionally, if disastrously, effective. All I remember hearing was that somehow he got ahold of a Plus before a Shinigami had come to purify it, and had tried to put it back in a body. I don't remember the end of the story, but I don't recall it being particularly... pretty."

Ed sat back and set his jaw. Al could only look at him. After a moment, he murmured towards Ed, "Ne..."

"He came here. He had to have come here. He had to have still been here."

"Otousan?"

Urahara and everyone else looked at Al. "Your father? You think he's..."

"Masaka," Yoruichi stated flatly. "This, 'story,' is well over fifty years old."

Ed put his hand on the table and declared, "He DID come here. I don't know if we're talking about exactly the same person, but Hikari no Hohenheim DID come to this world."

"How do you know?" This from Urahara, who had replaced the fan in front of his face.

Ed sat back and quietly said, "Because I've been here once too. Through the Gate. And back again. And now through again."

Urahara snapped his fan shut. "Once already? When?"

"Earlier today."

Silence. Then Urahara commented, "You two are a very confusing pair." Pointing the fan at Al, "You too?"

"No sir, I've only dealt once with the Gate."

"How did you find this 'Gate'?"

Silence again. Then Al raised his hand to the back of his head and apologized, "It's kind of a long story..."

"The whole story isn't needed. I assume that since you belong there, you need to return." More silence while they pondered that.

Back What's left there for us... well, I am a National Alchemist... and Winry would worry... but here, I finally got Al back... not to mention the rest of my body... and isn't that the important thing? But this world is... so different. No alchemy. But... in the long run...

But it was Al who spoke. "Yes. We do. We do need to go back. There will be people there who will miss us." And Ed knew he was right. Al was the most important person to him, but Ed knew that both the brothers were very important to other people. And so, if not for his own sake, but for theirs, they did need to get back.

"Family?"

Ed said, "No."

Al said, "Yes."

Ed looked at the table, and smiled ruefully, and amended, "Yes."

Urahara chuckled again. "You two are very confusing. This may be fun. Granted, life around here has been more than usually interesting of late, but what's one more cat in the box. If I may observe, you two look like you've been through Hell, which I suspect may be more accurate than I'd like to think about. I am a businessman here; a dinner I can provide out of the goodness of my heart, but from now on, you boys will be, so to speak, on a tab. Can I trust you to work for me in exchange for a place to sleep and new clothes, at the very least for the younger brother?"

They answered in unison, "Yes sir."

Urahara stood and spoke in that odd language, upon which the two children stood and scurried out of the room. "And after all this, I don't believe I've caught your names."

"Edward Elric, and this is my brother Alphonse."

"Edward-kun, Alphonse-kun, if you will follow Ururu, she will show you to a room where you can sleep for tonight, and we'll continue this tomorrow morning." And he flashed a grin, then turned and left in the direction of the front of the store. Yoruichi and the tall dark man followed him.

Jinta and Ururu had set out a pair of folded futons in the corner of a large and slightly ornate room, and Ururu, pointing at a door further down the hall, said, "That's the restroom when you need it. Oyasumi." Ed and Al thanked her, and slid the door shut.

Al marveled at the decorations. "It looks like a practice room. And it's huge!"

"Nah, you're just not used to being less than two full meters tall." Ed unfolded the futons with a single motion and laid down on the one nearer the wall. He tucked his left arm behind his head, and began inspecting his right hand again. Al knelt down on the other futon and watched his brother, then suddenly took Ed's hand in both of his own and happily said, "Nii-san, I'm so happy it worked!"

Ed grinned and squeezed Al's hands. "Me too, Al. More than words can say."

A knock on the door before it opened caused Ed to sit up. It was the tall dark man, kneeling, pushing a couple of stacks of clothes into the room before him. "I am Tessai, the co-manager of this store. Urahara sent some sleeping clothes, as well as day clothes for tomorrow, and some personal care items as well. If you have any questions about anything, please come to me." Al, already kneeling, placed his hands on the floor and lowered his head, and Ed moved to mostly match.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Tessai-san," Al, the ever-polite one, said. When Tessai had closed the door, Al retrieved the clothing and they sorted it out between them.

"I guess the flannely stuff is sleepwear, since it looks like we have the same ones," Ed commented.

"I guess this is a toothbrush. And this says toothpaste, tho I have no idea what this toothbrush is made out of."

"Odd material they make their pants out of. Thoughtful of him to include underwear too."

They changed into the pajamas and brushed their teeth, and folded their old clothes next to the new ones, and laid down in the futons. Al turned to face Ed, and chuckled. "It's been four years since I've slept... being tired is strange."

Ed turned his head towards Al and noticed his eyes were almost shut. In a few breaths, they shut completely, and his breathing evened out. Ed grinned, his own fatigue catching up with him in a hurry. He had just enough time to reach over and run the back of his right hand lightly once across Al's cheek.

"Yokatta, Al."