"Hey Jean." Shinobu(?) said.

Havoc turned to her voice and smiled, a box in his hands. "Yes, Kari…?"

Kari (Shinobu) saw the boxes as she opened the door to the dormitory room. Her and Havoc attended the Military Academy in the East, close to Ishbal.

Kari (Shinobu) frowned. "Are you graduating?"

Havoc nodded. "Yeah, but not before they send me to Ishbal." Havoc sighed. "Aren't you in your last year?"

Kari (Shinobu) nodded. "They're sending me to Ishbal as well…Jean, we might not be in the same sector so please…be careful." She walked up to Havoc, took the box out of his hands, and wrapped her arms around him.

Havoc put his arms around Kari (Shinobu) and sat down on the bed behind him, rocking her back and forth. "It's alright, I'll be fine…I'm worried about you though…so, I'm begging you to be careful."

She nodded. Kari (Shinobu) lifted her head and brought her lips to Havoc's for one quick kiss before running out of his dorm and back to hers.

…

Shinobu opened her eyes and found that she was lying in the bed alone, she heard noise in the kitchen and knew that Havoc was cooking. She rolled onto her back and sighed.

"Kari…" Shinobu mumbled. "Who is she?" Shinobu closed her eyes again. Is she who Havoc doesn't want to talk about?

Shinobu sat up and sighed again, deciding that it wasn't too important for her to be concerned with right now. She got out of the bed and changed back into her normal clothes, walking out into the living room.

Havoc looked over at her and smiled, setting down his breakfast on the table. "Morning Shinobu."

Shinobu looked at Havoc as he smiled and saw the Havoc from her dream flash in her mind's eye. "Jean…"

Havoc's expression changed to worry. "Shinobu are you okay?"

Shinobu quickly smiled and nodded. "Just thinking."

Havoc sighed. "Want some breakfast?"

Shinobu nodded and sat down at the table across from where Havoc was going to sit.

Havoc put some eggs onto a plate and sat them in front of Shinobu, who ate them without a second thought.

"What time are you going to work?" Shinobu asked, putting her plate in the sink and sitting back down.

Havoc looked at the clock. "In about an hour." He sighed and put his plate in the sink. "I have to get ready, do whatever…except destroy the house."

"Would I do that?" Shinobu asked innocently.

Havoc sighed and walked back into his room to get ready.

Shinobu plopped down on the couch and watched TV for about thirty minutes before Havoc walked back out.

Havoc was wearing a blue military uniform; there were strips of cloth on his uniform to signify what rank he was.

"What rank are you?" Shinobu asked, turning around to face him. She knew, but it would be suspicious if she didn't ask.

Havoc smiled. "I'm a Second Lieutenant. I'll soon be a First Lieutenant, if the Colonel ever tells the President."

Shinobu nodded and turned off the TV. "Are we going then?"

Havoc nodded and grabbed a cigarette. "Yeah, the Colonel will like that I'm actually early today."

Shinobu sighed. "It's bad to be late." She said as she put her shoes on.

Havoc shrugged as he put his boots on.

The two quickly made their way to Central HQ, right in the heart of Central. This time, when Shinobu tried to enter the grounds of the headquarters, the guards stopped her.

"She's with me." Havoc said calmly.

The guards allowed Shinobu to pass. The two made their way up a large staircase in the front of the building and into an office.

Havoc saluted. "Colonel Mustang."

Mustang looked at Havoc confusingly. "You're not…late?"

Havoc sighed. "No sir, I brought a new recruit today."

"So that's the occasion. At ease." Mustang said.

Havoc stepped aside so that Shinobu could enter the room and face Mustang.

"And you are?" Mustang asked, though he got that look on his face that said that he had seen her before.

"Shinobu." Shinobu said, bowing politely. "Colonel Mustang, correct…?"

Mustang nodded.

"I would like to join the ranks of the Amestrian military. If I can." Shinobu said with confidence.

Mustang smiled. "Of course you can. We always need more soldiers." He paused then added, "Have you considered trying the State Alchemist exam?"

Havoc tensed, he knew that Mustang had sensed it too. The feeling that she was someone from their past.

"Um…the what?" Shinobu was most definitely confused.

Mustang stood up and walked over to Shinobu, who saw the silver pocket watch and tensed. "The State Alchemy exam; it's a rigorous test, but if you pass you can get access to the most resourceful material for alchemy there is."

"Really?" This slightly interested Shinobu, she needed to learn something other than Rendanshu while in Amestris.

Mustang nodded. "You wanna try?"

Shinobu thought about it. "Well…"

A large explosion came from the first floor of the Central Command building just then. The three people in the room ran down the stairs to find Scar attacking the building.

"Damn!" Mustang said, pulling out his gloves. He snapped his fingers and a flame entrapped Scar where he stood.

"What in the…?" Shinobu had no idea what had just happened, other than Mustang went *snap* and the area around Scar became flames.

"Scar again." Havoc sighed.

Shinobu looked at Scar and saw the same skin and eye color as the woman from her dream the other night. "He's Ishbalan."

Mustang nodded. "And a crazy Ishbalan at that."

Scar jumped out from the ring of flames. "I will destroy you, State Alchemist!"

Shinobu quickly pulled out two Suntetsu's, carving a pentagram into the floor and sticking one in the middle while throwing the other one at Scar. When it got close enough, Shinobu put her hands on the pentagram on the floor and the Suntetsu exploded like a bomb, sending Scar flying out of the nearest window.

Havoc and Mustang stood with their mouths open; Shinobu just did alchemy…in their terms.

"You can do alchemy?" Havoc asked, amazed.

Shinobu shook her head. "I can do Rendanshu. It's slightly like alchemy, but it's Xing alchemy."

Havoc thought about what Shinobu had said yesterday and then what she had said just now. "You're from Xing, then?"

Shinobu tensed a little, she said too much. "Y-Yes, I'm from Xing."

Mustang smiled. "Xing, or Amestris, that was pretty impressive alchemy—Rendanshu. I'll put in a good word to the Fuehrer for you. Maybe you'll be the newest State Alchemist." Mustang walked back to his office. "Havoc, I want a word with you. Shinobu, you can go home, I'll call you if there's anything new."

Shinobu nodded and left the building as people started cleaning up.

…

"Sir, I just don't think that it's possible." Havoc told Mustang as he sat down in a chair across from where Mustang was sitting.

Mustang nodded. "I know what you mean, but Shinobu's display of alchemy earlier confirmed what I thought."

Havoc looked at the ground. "But…she's…Shinobu can't be…"

"Havoc," Mustang said sternly. "I thought that you of all people would be overjoyed at a day like this. It's possible that Elemental never died."

"She's dead, there's no bringing back the dead!" Havoc yelled at his superior.

Mustang sighed in frustration. "Did you ever think that it was possible that Elemental lost her memory and wandered out of the country?! Shinobu could be Elemental…or would you prefer for me to refer to her as Kari?"

Havoc wanted to smack Mustang for referring to something that was obviously painful for him, but knew that he could get discharged.

Mustang pulled out a file from a filing cabinet and threw it on his desk, the contents spreading over the desk. "Kari Kyoku, the Elemental Alchemist. Passed the exam by creating a perfectly detailed statue of the fuehrer president riding a horse out of earth and ice…while in his best uniform. Her written and psychological evaluations were near perfect."

"What are you getting at, sir?" Havoc asked almost angrily.

"Elemental's alchemy was almost better than my own. If she hadn't disappeared in Ishbal, then she would be the hero of Ishbal…instead of myself." Mustang sighed. "Shinobu's display of alchemy was much like Elemental. Don't you agree?"

Havoc nodded. "But what do you mean?"

Mustang sat down and said, "Shinobu is the Elemental Alchemist."

"What was that I heard about Elemental?" King Bradley asked as he walked in.

Havoc and Mustang stood up and saluted King Bradley as he walked in unexpectedly.

"At ease, gentlemen." King Bradley smiled.

Havoc and Mustang sat back down.

Bradley walked over and saw the file that was spread out on the desk. "Elemental's file?"

"Yes, sir." Mustang said calmly. "I believe that she's still alive…maybe she just lost her memory and traveled to Xing. Returning to us as Shinobu."

"Shinobu? Who's that?" King Bradley asked, interested.

"A traveler from Xing, sir." Havoc said. "She saved us from Scar not too long ago."

"I told her that I would get in touch with you and ask if she could try for the State Alchemy exam." Mustang said.

King Bradley nodded. "Why don't we just give her back her title?"

Havoc winced a little, Mustang saw but didn't say anything.

"Sir?" Mustang was confused now.

Bradley continued smiling. "If Shinobu is truly the Elemental Alchemist, then we have to just give her back her title."

Mustang and Havoc nodded. "Yes sir."

"Prove to me she's Elemental and I'll give her title back to her." Bradley said, walking out of the room. "See you later, gentlemen."

…

Shinobu sneezed. Damn! I better not be getting a cold.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" The cashier at the supermarket asked.

Shinobu sighed. "I'll be fine. There's somebody talking about me somewhere, that's probably the problem."

She took the three grocery bags and walked back to Havoc's apartment. While she was putting everything away, Havoc walked in the door.

Shinobu smiled at Havoc. "Hey Jean, I bought groceries."

Havoc hugged Shinobu.

"Jean?" Shinobu was very confused, and she blushed a little.

"Is it really you?" Havoc asked to no one in particular.

"Are you alright?" Shinobu wrapped her arms around him. "Jean, what's wrong?" She rested her head on his shoulder subconsciously.

Havoc felt tears running down his face. "Shinobu…"

"Jean?" Shinobu asked again. "Tell me what's wrong."

Havoc softly said, "I love you, and I always will."

Shinobu blushed when he said that, she had just met him yesterday. "J-Jean?"

Havoc pulled away and put his lips over Shinobu's in a sweet affectionate kiss. Shinobu kissed him back, though she was confused. Havoc pulled away and hugged Shinobu again.

"Forgive me for not seeing." Havoc said softly.

Shinobu hugged him back and said, "I forgive you." But, what do I forgive you for?

Havoc picked up Shinobu and threw her down on the couch. He tried to lay down on top of her and kiss her again, but Shinobu stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Shinobu asked, her face becoming more and more red.

"I love you, and I want to show you." Havoc said sincerely.

"We just met…" Shinobu thought for a moment then said, "A date first."

Havoc smiled and nodded. Pulling Shinobu into another hug. "You forgive me?"

Shinobu, still very confused, hugged him. "I forgive you for anything that you've ever done."

Next Time:

The Elemental Alchemist Returns;

Shinobu is accepted as the Elemental Alchemist, Fullmetal makes an…interesting appearance, and more memories are beginning to return while she's awake. But, this can be handled…right?