Finally, chapter 6!

Harpygirl91: O.o ....do I even WANT to know what that thing in your hands happens to be, Harpy-chan...?

Fullmetal Knight: ^_^ Yes, Alphonse/Hotaru is a VERY nice thing. They totally deserve each other, in my book.

Harry Potter/Sailor Moon/Full Metal Alchemist

"Harry Potter and the Living Stone"

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Chapter 6:

"Say It Only Once"

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"Oh, my God—Hotaru!" Usa threw her arms around her best friend's shoulders, leaning against the girl's wounded bicep. "What in Sweet Serenity happened to your face?"

Hotaru growled like a cat and pulled Usa off of her, pinning her to the wall with both wrists to her chest, held in place by Hotaru's left hand. "Don't touch my right arm and don't hang on me. Do either and there's one less Moon Princess for me to worry about."

"Whatever you say, 'Taru." Usa nodded, surprised at the reaction. "You gonna tell me why you've got butterfly bandages on your cheek?"

"Power fluxed." Hotaru said automatically.

"Oh, ouch." The Future Moon Princess winced softly. "Got your right arm, too, huh?"

"Something like that."

Hotaru sat down in the Suzaku Tower dining hall, breakfast instantly appearing in front of her. She had little patience for anything today. With the lack of sleep, a repeat of that damned nightmare and getting hurt, Hotaru was ready to murder anything that rubbed her the wrong way. Usa just needed a warning and she'd be more careful. Thankfully, she wasn't as bad as her mother.

"I've got a test in Home Economics." Usa grumbled, remembering her daily schedule. "You got any today?"

"Make up work. Missed the last two periods." Hotaru answered, getting Usa to sigh heavily. "Forgot what you studied?"

"Yeah and it's the unit exam. I hate unit exams." The pink haired girl sighed heavily once more as Edward and Alphonse came down to join the girls. Russell and Fletcher weren't down quite yet.

"Morning, Hotaru, Rabbit." Edward greeted, sitting across from Hotaru but down a chair, which made Alphonse sit in front of Hotaru.

"God, Elric—don't call me that!" Usa half complained. "You've got Tringham started on it, too! Alphonse, can't you put a muzzle on him?"

Al looked at his brother then at Usa. "Wouldn't work. He chewed through the last one."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Ed shot back sarcastically. "Remember, Al—you're a State dog, too."

"Yeah, fair enough." The younger Elric conceded. Hotaru just ate her breakfast in silence. She really wasn't in the mood for anymore chit-chat.

Ed and Usa picked on each other, going back and forth with Al playing the mediator-slash-advocate. Hotaru was just in her own little world, trying to remember the last time she had been this achy, even after pain medication. For some reason, she kept thinking back to a spot in her memory that was either foggy or fragmented.

Was there something she was forgetting?

"Have you talked to Setsuna?" Usa asked, catching Hotaru unaware for a second.

"What?"

"Have. You. Talked. To. Setsuna?" Usa repeated, breaking up the question.

"I'm half asleep, not slow." Hotaru shot back, slightly annoyed. "And no, I haven't. It's like Haruka said—she's busy."

"Why are you guys talking about the librarian?" Russell asked as he and Fletcher joined the quartet.

"No reason." Usa dismissed.

"She's all right." Hotaru said softly, getting Usa to look at her. "I'm sure she is…she's been quiet for much longer before…"

Gentle, sisterly hands rested lightly on Hotaru's shoulders, making her look up Rei. The Senshi of Fire kissed Hotaru's temple. "That's right, sweetie. It's best not to dwell on it."

"Dwell on what?" Hotaru asked clueless. "Did something happen and I not know?"

"On being separated from her, honey. It's almost like you're both worlds away. It's not something that can benefit people like us." Rei replied, giving her a hug around the shoulders, careful of Hotaru's right bicep. "Just be strong for a little while longer. You'll connect sooner than you think."

"Without Minako, you get really Horoscpoe-esque." Hotaru muttered, getting Rei to smile at the light tease.

"It'll be fine. Just wait." Rei told her gently. "You'll see."

Hotaru waited until Rei wandered off to tend to the other students. "Is it just me or is she hiding something? It seemed to me like she was lying about something."

"Didn't notice." Usa admitted. "Her sacred powers make her hard for me to read."

"Only because you don't practice." Hotaru shot back.

"Oh, yeah—pick on the rabbit."

"…None are safe…as long as the serpent lays close…"

The tengu, they were whispering to her again. She hadn't gotten anything more than the cuts on her arm yesterday. Hotaru mentally groaned. If she went up to see Kurotengu now, she'd be late for class. If she didn't, she could receive more trophies than what she already had. The very conundrum made Hotaru groan under her breath.

She was so going to get detention and a demerit for this.

"Something the matter, Hotaru?" Alphonse asked, wondering what had her attention now.

"It's nothing." Hotaru dismissed, Al not saying anything about it.

Ed, however, doubted it was that simple. From the way Kurotengu had spoken, what he said and the very fact he had been in Hotaru's room had the eldest Elric thinking. After all, it was unusual for a demon to lay claim to a human, and being the room of a sleeping human—especially that of a mystic. Demons and mystics rarely got along. Treaties, agreements were made but there was still a tension that couldn't be erased and yet, Hotaru hadn't woken up at all when Kurotengu had come into her room. It could have been the sleeping pills but Ed highly doubted it.

As usual, Hotaru finished her breakfast first but instead of sticking around and idly sipping her tea, like she usually did until class, Hotaru finished off her morning tea and let all her dishes disappear. She rose from her seat, excusing herself for something she had forgotten in her room…which was unlikely, given Hotaru rarely forgot anything.

Hotaru headed towards the crystal fire again, knowing that Kurotengu was likely to pluck her from her dash to school if she avoided him. He hadn't done that yet but he had flown into her room before and scooped her out of bed when she had skipped a meeting a previous afternoon. She had woken up in his nest with his demon form looking down at her slightly annoyed the next morning.

Kurotengu hated it when she didn't drop everything to go see what he wanted.

And he was likely to be in his nest this early in the morning if he wasn't out flying for something to eat. If he was out, she'd just leave a message that she was sorry that they missed each other and she'd come to see him at lunch instead. It had placated him before but he had been a short fuse and confrontational the entire time.

Of course, a wounded, half drugged Arithian female could be just as confrontational when push came to shove…and nobody wanted to run into a confrontational Chimera with more power than God and barely any mastery over same said power. The Senshi's many enemies had learned that the hard way.

Reaching the top of Suzaku Tower, Hotaru's pass crystal made the crystal fires glow softly. In the gentle light, Hotaru could see that there were tengu both asleep and on guard. The guards looked at Hotaru with their red eyes and tilted their heads at her. These tengu were about twice the size of the regular tengu, being the equivalent of sentinels. The ones Hotaru had to be careful of were Kurotengu's 4 large bodyguards. They were almost as big as their Blood Talon but couldn't take on a complete human form…and they weren't too fond of mystics, making Hotaru's position rather shaky.

Since it looked like the entire murder was there, other than the scouts to insure the other demons were doing as they were supposed to—leaving humans and mystics alone, that meant Kurotengu was probably in his nest, waiting for her. Hotaru didn't want to wake the sleeping tengu, since they did look rather cute with their eyes closed and heads tucked under their wings, so calling out to him was out of the question. That meant she'd have to climb up to go see him, not a first for the Senshi of Silence.

Hotaru put her finger to her lips to signal the guards to be quiet before she stepped onto the railing around the edge of the floor. She used the support molding to climb up to the rafters with ease and sat on the mostly empty rafter she had hauled herself up on. A guard pointed towards a safe path she could take around the edge of the sleeping murder with its foot, even using a toe. Hotaru gave the demon crow a nod of thanks before getting to her feet.

It was Hirahito's magic that gave Kurotengu such a spacious roost for his large murder. As long as the murder didn't go around causing trouble, the headmistress would let them keep their home of 7 years. Kurotengu had lived in these rafters for 9 so his nest was made in the deepest corner and spanned about half of a couple rafters. It was big enough for his demon form and any young tengu to take shelter with him in winter. He was a big softie like that.

Hotaru carefully took the path the guard had indicated and made her way to the rafter where the first bodyguard was posted. It eyed Hotaru darkly but didn't do anything. As Kurotengu kept saying, Hotaru belonged to the Blood Talon and since she was already sporting two wounds from the pain in the ass, they weren't going to do anything to her. It was there logic that Hotaru had been punished in person and thus probably had more coming.

She was hoping that latter part wasn't the case.

Passed that bodyguard, Kurotengu's nest was hidden by black cloth, mainly to keep the light out of his sensitive eyes and to keep him and the young tengu warm in the winter. The elder tengu were strong enough to survive a winter perched close together but the young had to grow the thicker feathers before they could spend winter evenings with their parents. Though, as far as Hotaru knew, Kurotengu hadn't had any young of his own. He had been leader for only 7 years, so he had plenty of time for that kind of stuff later.

Hotaru passed one of the other bodyguards, which let her pass like the other one. It shared a rafter with a third bodyguard that just glanced at Hotaru before looking away. The last one Hotaru had to get passed was the most vicious. That one had done damage to Hotaru before. She had to be careful with how she approached it…but it seemed suspiciously absent and then the fact that the other 3 were on point made sense.

Kurotengu sent it on some sort of clean up with an out-of-line demon.

Hotaru gave the 3 bodyguards a polite bow, getting nods of acknowledgement in return before they went back to watching for anything that would threaten their Blood Talon. She slipped through the overlapping part in the curtains and expected Kurotengu to be awake and sort of unhappy with her delay. She, however, was surprised when she saw that wasn't the case.

The pain in the ass was asleep.

Hotaru wondered why he'd send a tengu for her if he was just going to go to sleep but now that she thought of it, the tengu's message hadn't changed from yesterday. It was unusual for them to have repeating messages. She carefully slipped out of her shoes and quietly crawled onto the black feather coated nest. She had almost forgotten that Kurotengu lined his nest with his heavier feathers from winter. He was almost as finicky as she was when it came to being warm. The very thought made her smile and bite her lower lip to keep from laughing out loud.

Kurotengu was on his back as a human, his arm thrown of her his eyes. It was like he was still trying to sleep with his head under his wing, even in human form. And as far as she could tell, he wasn't wearing that mask of his. He always wore it when Hotaru came to him, like he was trying to hide what he really looked like from her. When Hotaru first saw it, she thought it was just apart of him. The fact that it was on his feathered cloak and most of his clothes just proved to her that it was removable.

He looked sort of peaceful in his black fur blanket and his arm over his eyes. Hotaru could see the fangs all demons had in human form and his pointed ears, the Blood Talon amulet around his neck and resting on his bared and scarred chest. It struck her as odd that he'd be sleeping as a human, since he had told her he slept in his demon form. Was this little white lie also a reason for the curtains?

Hotaru sat like a lady close to him, waiting for him to wake up. He'd probably kill her for staying, for finding him like this but he'd more likely to smash into her classroom to get her because she hadn't stayed to hear what had to be told.

Kurotengu moved in his sleep, like he was uneasy, like he was having a bad dream. He rolled over onto his stomach, his black hair falling into his face and folding his arm to hide his head. He was still trying to sleep with his head under his wing. This just confirmed it.

Hotaru wished she had thought to bring a book but then again, she hadn't expected that he'd be asleep. Body heat and a weight on her thighs made Hotaru look down at her lap. Kurotengu was half on her legs, his head resting on her top thigh and his arm still over his head. Hotaru just smiled softly and took off her blazer, draping it over his shoulders and a little over his folded arm. She certainly wasn't going anywhere now.

All she could was wait for him to wake up on his own, no matter how long it took.

8-8-8-8

There was a reason why Kurotengu didn't sleep as a human, aside from having to strip to nothing in order to be comfortable. He felt a weight on his chest, making him wake up and look at what it was. The surprise of his long life hit his brain, making it go blank.

Hotaru was half laying on his chest, using her own arm as a pillow and her right hand just resting on his chest, her glasses hooked around two fingers. She had dozed off waiting for him to wake up…and he was propped up on her lap, her blazer beneath him and his furs still over his waist mercifully.

The fact that she was asleep didn't surprise him any. It was the fact that she had seen him sleeping and as a human, that she had let him put himself in her lap, that she had returned the favor in a way…that she hadn't killed him, ridding herself of his near tyrannical presence. That she hadn't paid him back for her bicep or face.

Damn him, he had cut her face. He hadn't meant to but he had. If it scarred, it was going to piss him off something fierce. She was too pretty to be scarred…for a mystic.

Kurotengu put his arm over her waist and rested his other hand over her right wrist. If she was going to sleep on him, then he was going to enjoy that unintentional attention while he had it. She curled up more, much like a cat, her legs drawing closer to her body and propping Kurotengu up more.

Despite having her come to him, Kurotengu was curious on what brought her here. Had she figured out that his touch calmed the nightmares?

No, that tengu he sent earlier must've delivered the same message again, since he hadn't told her what it was about. And once he did, she would leave to go try to figure it out. She'd go to the library to do research on the various clues, like she had time and time before.

Eyelashes tickling his flesh alerted Kurotengu to the fact that Hotaru was waking up, possibly because she sensed his breathing had changed. She sat up and wiped the products of sleep from her eyes. Kurotengu didn't even bother to hide his face. She had come to him, slept in his company, proved that she could be trusted while he was sleeping.

"Sorry, didn't mean to doze off." Hotaru apologized, gingerly pressing her butterfly bandages down, like they had come undone as Kurotengu sat up.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Kurotengu replied, catching her chin. He leaned forward and kissed her lips, surprising the 16-year-old Senshi. He pulled back, his red eyes only open half way. "You have proven yourself trustworthy. You did not kill me or take advantage of the moment while I slept. You proved your worth to my murder and thus to me."

Hotaru gave him an annoyed look and lightly flicked his forehead. "You're the one who put you in my lap. And humans don't sleep with their heads under their wings."

"Do not make fun. I will hurt you again." Kurotengu warned. "You came to me. You did not try to avoid me. Why?"

"Because you would've only come after me, like always." Hotaru said, pointing out the obvious. "I'm not stupid. You do it enough that your guards know to leave me a path to get to your nest in the morning."

Kurotengu had to give her that, at least.

"What's the riddle of the day?" Hotaru asked, getting down to business as she put on her glasses. "I have to get to class."

"You are to stay here until I give it to you." The demon replied, getting Hotaru to cross her arms under her bust. "I am Blood Talon and you belong to me. What I say is law."

"Last guy to impose that on me got my Night Fire Scythe in the gut." Hotaru shot back. "Give me your damn riddle so I can get on with my day."

"Why are you being impatient?" Kurotengu inquired.

"Because you forget about the tall woman with silvery white hair and bright mercury eyes that lives at the top of the Main Tower. I'm the only thing standing between you and her." Hotaru responded, jabbing him once in the chest. Kurotengu growled at the show of minor aggression and soon had her pinned to his nest with his foot, like yesterday. The huge tengu looked down at her with 4 angry red eyes.

"I will kill you if you do that again." Why did tengu have to have mental abilities? Why couldn't they just have physical talents, like other demons?

"If you kill me, you'll never know what I really meant when I told you that." Hotaru shot back. Kurotengu drew his foot off of her chest. Apparently it had bothered him enough to back off. "Someone's feeling bipolar."

"Tell me or die, Mystic. It makes no difference to me." Kurotengu ordered as Hotaru sat up. Hotaru sighed, huffing up her bangs.

"Fine but listen closely because I'm only going to say this once."

Wow...yeah...uh, Kurotengu, I thought I told you to RELAX. If you keep threatening to kill 'Taru-chan, I'll make Ed a superhero and kick your feathered ass.

Ed: Could you do it NOW?

No, Ed.

Ed: Damn.

-sigh- plz read and--

Ed: How about getting me out of this straight jacket?

-annoyed- NO. Now, shut UP! -duct tapes mouth closed and hangs Ed from the ceiling by his ankles over a shark filled tank-

As I was saying before I was RUDELY interrupted...

Plz read and review.

I'll have Chapter 7 up asap. Promise.