Chapter Seven: Complicated; I'll Never Understand

" I heard you talking about so I'm curious to know.." Himiko replied with a shrug. Ed sweatdropped and just waved it off with his hand.

" It's nothing for you to worry about.. "

" Hmph, fine be that way. "

" Wow Fullmetal, never knew you'd be the type to flirt with girls, especially outside of my office.. " Came a voice that held a lot of amusement in it. Ed turned around and shot a glare at the raven haired man standing in the doorway. Himiko raised an eyebrow, looking from Ed and the man who just came.

" Shut it Mustang and I wasn't flirting with her! "

" So who is she? " Mustang asked jerking a thumb over to Himiko who stood off to the side with her arms crossed.

" A friend of mine and ONLY a friend. Himiko, Mustang, Mustang Himiko. "

" A pleasure to meet you, Himiko. " Mustang said smoothly as he made his way to her. He took her hand and in a charming way, kissed it.

" Pleasure is mine, Mustang. " smiled Himiko.

" You can call me Roy..."

" Of course..."

Ed stood aside with Al, who obviously does not look impressed. In fact, Ed was about to snap for who knows what reason. Or maybe it was the fact that Mustang was the one flirting with a girl in front of his own office. Yeah, that's right, Ed decided to settle on that. But he couldn't just stand there and let this flirt fest go on in front of him, it made him sick. So he quickly went up to Himiko, took her hand away from Mustang's grasp and quickly headed out.

" Gotta go Mustang. Good bye! " With that, he pulled Himiko out of the building with Al following.

" Wait for me brother! "

Mustang stood puzzled a bit but then smirked, ' Ha, Fullmetal has a crush...I'm so blackmailing him.'

-

" Well isn't he a charming man..." muttered Himiko, staring back at the office where they had left. Ed annoyed, turned her head to stare forward while they were walking.

" He's like that around women. So I wouldn't go gah-gah over him just yet. "

" Hm, men here on earth aren't really different from the one in Soul Society. Well only one person I know acts like that..."

" Heh, if I were you I would stay away from him. " replied Ed with his arms behind his head. Himiko looked at Ed strangely.

" You know I can handle myself fine on my own. "

" Pfft. I'm sure you can but I'm just sayin... " Himiko was still giving Ed that strange look, it puzzled her that he seems to care about her a little too much. It was...odd. She sighed inwardly, she'll never understand men, whether they were dead or not. A howl in the atmosphere and it seems that Ed and Al had heard it too.

" A hollow?! " asked Al worriedly, glancing from each direction to see if he could spot it. Himiko took out her black and blue cellphone and flipped it open. A flashing dot is shown on the screen which showed that there was indeed, a hollow near by.

" I'm afraid so..." Himiko said gravely, not really in the mood to deal with a hollow at the moment. Ed also looked alerted, Himiko closed her eyes calmly and and shut her phone. She quietly listened to where the hollow will be appearing and after a while, her eyes snapped open.

" It's to the right! " And as if on cue, the hollow appeared. It resembled something like a lion but it had on a white mask and a horn was sticking out on its forehead along with a spiked tail. Edward took a step back as the hollow spotted them from afar and began to charge. Just when he was about to transmute his automailed arm to a blade, Himiko stopped him.

" Both of you actually stay back this time! "

" The last time we did that, we found you half dead! So hell no! " Himiko growled at Edward's stubbornness. It was her duty as a shinigami to take care of hollows like these every day. And plus, she had more experience then he did.

' I didn't think I'll need to use this so soon. ' Thought Himiko as she took out an all too familiar rabbit dispenser, ' I'll be sure to thank Rukia for this..Though she was the one who insisted that I should try Chappy but seeing its perky character, sorta scared me. ' Popping the gikon pill into her mouth, her soul was forced out of the gigai and the body had a life of its own.

" Keep him back, " Commanded Himiko to the gigai, drawing her zanpakuto, " Al don't you dare try getting involved. " Al put his hands up in defense, clearly not wanting to anger the female shinigami. Edward was none too pleased that she was going to fight the monster alone.

" Hey wait just a minute! " He shouted but was stopped by Himiko's gigai. It pounced onto Edward abruptly, knocking him over and getting close to his face.

" Wha?! "

" Pwease step aside! "

" WHAT?!?!?! " The Chappy controlled gigai pinned Edward down face first on the ground, having a strong hold on both his arms and sitting on top of his legs so that he wouldn't move or squirm. During all of this, Himiko had rushed towards the hollow and was at the moment, fighting and dodging its claws. The hollows tails whipped viciously at Himiko who managed to dodge it by using flashstep. With a quick swipe, Himiko had managed to cut off the tail. As it howled in pain, she took the time to deliver the final blow and the hollow slowly started to disintegrate. Sighing, Himiko placed her sword back into its case and made her way back to Ed, Al and Chappy/her gigai.

" Get the hell off of me!! OWW!! That hurts!! " shouted Edward as his arms was being twisted into a very odd angle.

" You shuts up before I make you. " retorted Himiko's gigai as she whacked him on the head.

" I'm going to kill you when I get my hands on you! "

" You have the wight to remain silence! "

" Careful you don't break his arm..." Al said in a meek voice while watching his brother in pity being held down.

" Okay I think you can let him go now. People are starting to stare..." It was indeed true, everyone on the streets were staring strangely at the three, seeing as how Himiko was invisible to the human eye. Chappy or Himiko's gigai, glanced up at her master and pouted a bit.

" Buts its funny. "

" You can play with him some other time.." sighed Himiko, not really getting why this was the most popular mod soul for female shinigamis in Soul Society. Sure the little thing was cute and speaks like a child just learning to talk but it sure does make someone look out of character.

" Yayyyy!! Bye byes shorty!! " exclaimed Chappy, getting off of Edward. Bad move. In Himiko's opinion, she could've at least pinned him down when she called him 'shorty,' otherwise...

" WHO YOU CALLIN SHORTY?! HUH?! WHAT MAKES YOU ANY DIFFERENT?! YOU'RE EVEN SHORTER THAN ME!!! "

" Hey!! I'm aware of that so don't need to rub it in my face! " shouted Himiko back, annoyed that her height was once again, insulted. Even back in Soul Society, she was one of the shortest shinigami's. Hitsugaya-taicho, Yachiru-fukutaicho being the other two shortest shinigamis. It sorta frustrates Himiko that probably the only person she was taller than in Soul Society was indeed the small pink haired vice-captain. But thinking of that made her even more frustrated because Hitsugaya-taicho was, like Edward, taller than her by an inch. AN INCH. Himiko inwardly blushed, thinking about the white haired captain(A/N: OOOHHH maybe a LOVE TRIANGLE?? XD who knows...who knows... ) )

" Uhh...Himiko...? " asked Edward, unsure as to why Himiko looked so out of it. During the time she was thinking, she was seemingly getting more and more pissed at something. But then it later changed when a small tint of pink coloured her cheeks. That was what confused the three that were standing in front of Himiko, waiting for her to talk.

" Himiko-sama?! " asked her gigai, getting worried and teary eyed at the same time.

" Uhh..I think she's thinking..." pointed out Al.

" Yeah...about what? She looks out of it, she doesn't even realize we're talking about her! Hey Himiko!!! " exclaimed Ed, waving his hand in front of her face. Finally, Himiko blinked and looked confusedly at her companions who stared back at her just as confused.

" What are you staring at? "

" HIMIKO-SAMA YOU'RE AWIGHT!!! " cried Chappy, hugging her master and crying out loudly while saying over and over again how glad she was that Himiko was normal again. The female shinigami sighed and merged back with the gigai, taking the pill out of her mouth and disposing it.

" Let's head back home, I'm getting tired of beating these hollows ever since I came here..." Sighed Himiko. Edward could only nod and started walking again with Himiko and Al trailing behind. Ed's thoughts wandered over back to when Himiko was blushing or was she blushing? Fever? No she was definitely blushing. But why? Edward rolled his eyes at this inwardly, he'll never understand women.

Next Morning

" Who? "

" The Führer, who's the political and military ruler of Amestris holding the official title of President. "

" Okay, what about him? "

" He's approved my idea through Mustang that we'll duel each other for an assesment. If I win he'll give me information on Dr. Marco and he'll take care that kitten Al found on the streets today... "

" Uh huh...Who's Dr. Marco..? "

" I don't know yet that's why I need to beat Mustang so he'll tell me. "

" I see.." Himiko answered boredly, not really getting why Dr. Marco was so important. Maybe it was about that stone, the stone that Ed keeps being quiet about whenever Himiko asked. She had asked Al but he too was hesitant to tell her and later on, switches to another subject to avoid being questioned again. So Himiko learned that she's not going to get any answers from them. It was really frustrating, she has no idea what's going on whatsoever.

" So when is this fight? " Himiko asked after a moment of silence. She was lazing on one of the beds in the Elric brother's room. Al was reading a book, sitting on the floor peacefully while Ed was sitting on the other bed polishing his automail arm.

" This afternoon. " Himiko sighed, starting a conversation with him when he's so focused on winning was proven pointless. But what intrigued Himiko was the automail arm and leg he has. She's never seen anything like that before, was this the method that they used in this world when someone loses a limb? She can't imagine how they would actually put that thing on as a replacement or how anyone would be able to move around with a chunk of metal on them. Its like running with weights. But then the thought of how Edward got those artificial limbs came into her mind. It wouldn't be right of her to ask, that would be rude.

There were so many questions that popped up into her mind right then about these two brothers. Himiko moved her copper coloured eyes to look from Ed to Al. But there was one thing she could tell about them just by looking; they had a dark past to end up like this. Of course, Himiko has her fair share of secrets too but decided to tell them when the time is right. Just like how they'll answer the many questions she has about them.