Disclaimer - I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter Thirteen - Homunculi

Nick had recently returned from his second trip to East City, disappointed that Hunter had eluded him for the time being, and he and Kaori were hanging out together. Kaori had met Nick at the train station in Central when he arrived, mainly because she'd been worried about him since he'd left. She was very grateful to see that her friend had made it back in one piece, having spent the time that he was away worried about his safety.

Nick and Kaori were sitting together in a park, on the grass under a large tree. "Nick, there's something I've wanted to ask you since the day we met."

"And what might that be?" Nick asked, gazing over at the young girl with a curious expression in his golden eyes.

"What could possibly possess you to join the State Military at such a young age? I'm an alchemist too but I would have never even considered it."

"To be quite honest I had no plans to join the military when I came to Central." Nick stared thoughtfully at the horizon. "It was Col. Havoc who first suggested it, after I used alchemy to rescue Elicia. It was only after some thought that I decided to take him up on that offer."

"So if you didn't plan on joining the military why did you come to Central?"

Nick hesitated, unsure whether he should share his secret with her. No one else, except maybe his Uncle Al, knew why Nick had left home at the age of eleven and became a State Alchemist. Could he really trust her with the knowledge, the truth about the sin that he had committed?

The boy took a deep breath, his decision made.

"I'm searching for a homunculus."

"A homunculus?" Nick could tell by the tone of her voice that Kaori didn't know what a homunculus was. Oh if only he were that fortunate.

The young boy took a deep breath, preparing for an explanation that he didn't really want to give. "A homunculus is an imitation human that has a mind and body but not a soul. A sort of living doll."

"No way. Are you serious?"

Nick nodded.

"And how exactly are these homunculi created?"

"A homunculus is created when an alchemist fails a human transmutation."

Kaori gasped.

Nick stared down at the hands that were clasped in his lap. "My Uncle Al told me about them. After. . ." Slowly Nick removed the glove that covered his right hand and held up his auto-mail, which glinted in the warm sunlight. "He told me about them after I failed to resurrect my sister Harmony."

A shocked expression appeared in the young girl's eyes as she stared over at her friend. "Nicholas, you attempted human transmutation?! But it's forbidden."

Nick nodded. "I'm well aware that alchemy on humans is strictly forbidden by the laws of the State, not to mention the very laws of nature, but I had to try, because it was my fault that she died. However things didn't go well and I lost my right arm. I thought that was the end of it but it wasn't. I found that out the day before my eleventh birthday.

A far away expression appeared in Nick's golden eyes as he thought back on that fateful day.

(The sun was shining brightly and the sky was a vibrant blue, not even a hint of a cloud overhead. Taking full advantage of the beautiful weather Nick and his younger sister Aiya were out in the meadow not far from their home, playing with their dog Keeva.

The two children had always been close but ever since the death of Aiya's twin Harmony and the subsequent near fatal human transmutation attempt that had nearly claimed the life of her older brother Aiya had clung to Nick more than ever.

Nick still felt the pangs of guilt whenever he looked at his little sister, who was identical to the girl he'd failed to resurrect but he was learning to cope with those feelings of guilt. Right after the human transmutation attempt he'd been unable to look at Aiya without having horrible flashbacks of Harmony's accident and the failed human transmutation. However he was slowly getting over that, much to the relief of his parents.

After spending about half an hour wrestling with both his sister and the dog (who were quite good at tag-teaming him) Nick called for a temporary truce.

"Sorry Aiya," Nick said, attempting to catch his breath as he spoke and sinking to the ground. He sat down, his legs stretched out in front of him. "But I have to take a break. I haven't quite built my stamina back up to where it used to be."

"That's okay Big Brother," Aiya said as she plopped down beside him. "As long as I'm with you I don't care what we do."

Keeva barked, as if in agreement, and sat down on Nick's other side. The dog then lay down and placed his head on Nick's leg, a position that he often took whenever his chosen master sat down on the ground. Nick absentmindedly patted the dog on the head but his gaze was focused on a hill a few yards away from where they were sitting.

"What the heck is that?" Nick muttered as he watched the strange object that was headed toward them.

Aiya noticed her brother's intense stare and she followed his gaze until she, too, saw what had to be the strangest thing she'd seen in all her five years.

"It's someone wearing a suit of armor," Nick mumbled, more to himself than to Aiya. "I wonder what the heck's going on."

As the armor got closer Aiya began to grow alarmed, she moved closer to her brother in an attempt to hide from the approaching curiosity. Nick sensed the girl's fear and placed a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder. "It's okay Aiya. Why don't you go and tell Dad that we have a visitor."

Aiya nodded and jumped to her feet. The girl dashed off, happy to be able to get away from the creepy suit of armor.

As his sister dashed off to get their dad, Nick stood up and walked toward the visitor who was now only a few feet away from him. "Is there something I can help you with?" Nick asked the person but he got no response.

"Hello?" Nick persisted.

Still there was no response.

The person in the armor stopped mere inches away from Nick and still they did not say anything, which needless to say really pissed the boy off.

"That's it," Nick burst out angrily as the armor clad stranger stood silently staring down at him. "If you don't tell me who you are and what you're doing here right now I'm gonna be forced to kick your ass until you see fit to tell me. No matter how long that takes."

Still no response.

"Arrr," Nick growled, using his right leg to kick at the stranger's head.

The stranger blocked the blow and when his leg made contact with the armor Nick heard something weird. The blow actually caused an echo throughout the armor.

"What the heck?" Nick exclaimed.

The boy jumped toward the armor, narrowly avoiding being grabbed, and pulled the helmet off. Shocked by what he saw, or rather what he didn't see, Nick jumped back and the helmet clamored to the ground, completely forgotten.

"There's no way."

"Ugh," a voice from behind groaned, interrupting Nick's frantic thoughts. "He's gonna lose his soul for good if he doesn't stop doing that."

Nick turned to find his parents walking down the path toward him.

"Dad, do you know what's going on because this is seriously weirding me out."

All of a sudden the armor fell to the ground, pieces going everywhere, as though its owner had suddenly vacated it.

Nick's eyes grew even larger. "And THAT just made it worse."

"We're about to have a visitor," Ed said suddenly. "And I think he'll be able to answer all your questions."

As he spoke, Ed's gaze turned toward the dirt road that led from their modest home in the countryside to the main village of Resembool. Following the direction of his dad's gaze Nick looked that way as well and he saw a solitary figure walking toward them.

"Not another one." Nick tensed, ready for a fight.

Ed placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "Calm down Nicholas. Trust me; you don't wanna fight this guy. At least not hand to hand."

As the man drew closer recognition suddenly hit Nick like a bolt of lightening. "It's Uncle Al!"

"Hey kiddo," Alphonse Elric said as he came to a stop in front of Nick and his parents.

Ed walked over to his younger brother and stared at him. "I thought I told you to stop doing the whole soul in the armor thing?"

Al stared back at his older brother defiantly. "And I thought I told you to stop bossing me around?"

For a minute Nick thought that the two of them might actually fight but instead the brothers embraced.

"I've missed you brother," Al said. "How have you been?"

"Doing okay," Ed replied. "It's really great to see you."

Al looked around. "Where's Aiya? Did you guys run off and leave her?"

"She's at home because YOUR armor scared her half to death." Al's gaze went to his brother's wife and their childhood friend and he saw that she was staring at him through narrowed eyes.

Al flushed. "Oh. Sorry about that Winry."

Winry walked over to Al and gave him a fierce hug. "It's lucky for you I'm a forgiving soul."

Al smirked. "And it's lucky for Brother that your back's turned," Al thought to himself. "Because he's over there looking like that whole 'forgiving soul' thing is news to him."

Winry released her grip on Al. "You'd better do something about that armor of yours. You can't just leave it lying on the ground like that."

"Oh, okay Winry."

Al pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and began to pull them on. Nick noticed the transmutation circles drawn on the gloves and he wondered what they were for. What sort of alchemy they did.

"Without alchemy," Winry said.

Al frowned. "Why?"

"Because you've already scared Aiya enough. Do you have any idea how she'd react if that thing came walking into our yard? Sorry but you're just gonna have to do it the hard way."

"Fine." Al turned to his nephew. "Hey Nick, would you mind lending me a hand?"

"Sure Uncle Al."

"You're a good kid. I don't know where people get the idea that you take after your father."

"Watch it," Ed warned, pointing his index finger at his younger brother. "I can still take you, you know."

Al arched a brow and smirked at his older brother. "What are you talking about? You've never been able to take me Ed."

"That was mean."

Al grinned but did not apologize for the remark.

Ed looked as though he were going to say something else but Winry grabbed him by the arm. "We'll meet you two back at the house. Come along Edward."

Ed allowed himself to be led away by his wife but as he went he cast his brother a look that told Al plain as words that it wasn't over yet.

Once he recovered from laughing at his older brother Al bent down and began picking up the pieces of armor that were lying scattered on the ground. "This is gonna take forever," Al mumbled as he and his nephew gathered up the armor.

"So Uncle Al, you gotta tell me how you did that."

Al smiled. "For some reason my soul is easily detachable and by using alchemy I'm able to implant a part of my soul into the armor, animating it for a short period of time. But it's only temporary and the part of the soul always returns to me after a short period of time."

"That is SO COOL!"

Al smiled at his nephew's excitement. The boy loved to learn about all aspects of alchemy. Nick was definitely Ed's son. "By the way, thanks for helping me with the armor. I owe you one."

"It's no problem," Nick said as he loaded his arms with metal. "Glad to be of some assistance."

Once they'd gathered up all the pieces of armor Al and Nick headed toward home. Once there, Al placed the armor in a small storage shed that was located behind the house, used by the Elric family for storage, and then he and Nick went inside.

The family spent an enjoyable evening catching up. Al hadn't been to visit in quite some time and he had lots of stories to tell his niece and nephew and they were both excited to hear them.

The two children sat in the floor in front of Al's chair, gazing up at him in awe as he told them of his adventures.

Nick had been in bed for nearly an hour and yet he found himself unable to go to sleep. There were simply too many things going through his mind and they refused to allow him to fall into the blessed emptiness of sleep.

"This sucks."

Giving up on sleep for the moment Nick tossed his covers aside and got out of bed. He grabbed a pair of black pants out of his closet and pulled them on over the boxers and black tank top that he already wore. Then he left his room.

Nick made his way downstairs and was intent on finding something to occupy his time and his thoughts when he heard his family speaking in hushed voices. The voices were coming from the kitchen.

Curious as to what was going on Nick quietly made his way over to the kitchen entrance. Once there he flattened himself against the wall, listening to a conversation he was clearly not supposed to hear.

"So another one of those things has been created huh Ed?"

"Yes," Ed said slowly.

"Does Nick know about the homunculus?"

"No," Ed replied, his voice breaking. "He doesn't know anything about them. I couldn't bear to tell him. He's endured too much heartache already. I simply couldn't do that to him."

"So did you destroy it?" Al asked.

Ed shook his head. "I went back to the cave after we took care of Nicholas but the homunculus was no longer there. I'm not sure what happened to it."

"Then you're going to have to tell him about the homunculus eventually," Al said. "What if he runs into it or worse what if it comes after him?"

"Come on Al we both know that's likely never to happen," Ed said in defense of the fact that he had left his son in the dark about the consequences of human transmutation. "The homunculus can only gain a human form if it feeds on the stone and how many people could possibly know that? It won't be like last time."

"You don't know that for sure Brother," Al said. "I still think you should tell Nick, just to be on the safe side."

There was no response from Ed.

"So," Winry said, breaking the silence. "Is everything all set for tomorrow?"

"Yep," Ed said, glad for the change of topic. "All goes as planned."

"Wonderful," Winry said.

Judging by the change in the tone of their voices, Nick could tell that they were no longer on the topic they'd been discussing when he'd came downstairs. "Damn," Nick swore silently as he got to his feet.

Nick returned to his bedroom and went back to bed but sleep was just as elusive as it had been before and now, on top of that, Nick had one more thing to ponder.

"And I reiterate, this sucks."

After spending a long and sleepless night thinking about the conversation he'd overheard, Nick was greatly relieved when day finally arrived. During the night, while he'd tossed and turned, Nick had decided that he had to ask one of the adults what they'd been talking about. He'd more than likely be in trouble because he'd obviously not been meant to hear it but the boy didn't care.

"It concerns me and therefore I have a right to know," the boy's mind rationalized. "Besides, if I don't find out what it was then I'll never get a decent night's sleep."

His mind made up, Nick dressed in his usual attire of black pants and a black shirt, and then he headed downstairs. Aiya was already downstairs and she flung herself at Nick as soon as he entered the living room.

"Aiya," Nick gasped, the breath having been knocked out of him by his little sister's sudden attack.

Aiya gazed up at her brother, an innocent expression on her face. Nick shook his head and ran a hand through his golden hair. For some reason, when he gazed into his sister's big blue eyes he found himself unable to utter a cross word to her.

"Come on then Shadow," Nick said. "Let's go have breakfast."

Aiya nodded and fell into step behind her brother.

When the two children entered the kitchen they found Ed and Al already seated at the table.

"Good morning kiddos," Al called out to the two kids as they took their places at the table.

"What's the matter Nicholas?" Ed asked, gazing at his son. A look of concern appeared on the man's face.

"It's nothing," Nick said quickly. "I just had a little trouble sleeping last night, that's all." (Nick had already decided not to ask his dad about what he'd overheard the previous night unless it was absolutely necessary. It would be far easier to get the information from someone else. Besides that, the boy didn't want it to be a group discussion. He'd wait for a better opportunity to ask the question.)

"I see," Ed said, his gaze still focused on the young boy. He didn't look entirely convinced of his son's words but was apparently choosing to let the matter drop.

After breakfast Nick went out to feed the dog and for once he didn't have Aiya tagging along behind him. The girl was off helping Winry with something, Nick wasn't sure what. He was, however, thankful that she'd found something more interesting than him for once. It would be much easier for him to get the information he sought without her around.

While he was feeding Keeva, Nick noticed out of the corner of his eye that Al was walking toward the storage building. "That'll work." Nick had been waiting for an opportunity to catch one of the adults alone and he'd just been handed a great one.

Nick quickly poured the food into Keeva's bowl and then jogged over to the storage building. "Hey Uncle Al."

Al jumped at the sound of his nephew's voice and moved to quickly close the door of the storage building.

The boy's curiosity was aroused. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing important. Just checking on my armor."

"That's odd," Nick thought to himself but decided to drop the matter. He and his uncle had more important matters to discuss. The boy took a deep breath and then stared up into his uncle's grey eyes. "Uncle Al, what's a homunculus?"

Al's face paled upon hearing those words from his nephew. "Where did you hear that?"

"I heard you talking with Mom and Dad last night," Nick confessed, deciding that it would be in his best interest to tell his uncle the truth.

Al sighed in resignation. He was in no way prepared for this question but there was no way around it. He had to tell the boy what he and Ed had been discussing. He hadn't planned on divulging the truth but the boy had asked and he had a right to know. "Let's take a walk Nicholas."

Nick nodded and followed his uncle out of the yard. Al led his nephew to the meadow where they'd met the day before and once they were there he sat down on the soft grass. Nick followed his uncle's example, sitting down on the grass beside Al and drawing his knees up under his chin and wrapping his arms around them in a protective manner. The boy gazed at his uncle expectantly. Maybe now he'd get some answers.

"A homunculus is a sort of living doll, created through the use of alchemy. It has a body resembling that of a human and a mind but it doesn't have a soul." Al paused at this point and took a deep breath, bracing himself and preparing for the blow that he was about to deal to his young nephew. "Homunculi are created when an alchemist fails a human transmutation."

Nick gasped, his mind flashing to the night he'd attempted to resurrect his sister and the vision of the thing he'd created. So that was why his family had been discussing him the night before. A shiver ran down Nick's spine as he thought about what must have happened the night he failed his human transmutation. "So I made one of those things. . .that night."

Al nodded, his heart breaking as he gazed at the pained expression on Nick's face.

Suddenly angry, Nick glared at his uncle. "Why didn't anyone ever tell me?"

Al stared at the ground, a guilty expression in his gray eyes. "Your parents were just trying to shelter you from further pain. What they did they did out of love."

Nick stared at the horizon, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Nick. . .are you okay?"

After a moment Nick nodded. "I'm fine. Thanks for telling me the truth Uncle Al."

Al nodded. "We should probably head back. The others are probably wondering where we've gotten to. After all, we didn't even bother to tell them that we were leaving."

"Alright," Nick said.

Al and Nick both stood up and the two of them walked back to the house. When the two of them entered the house, it was completely dark. None of the lights were on.

"What the hell?" Nick said, reaching to flip on the lights.

As the room was illuminated people suddenly sprang from behind furniture.

"SURPRISE!!"

Startled by the sudden appearance of his family, Nick jumped back. The boy gazed around the room, which was festively decorated, and suddenly realized that it was his eleventh birthday.

Aiya ran over to Nick and threw her arms around him. "Happy Birthday Brother."

Nick hugged his little sister. "Thanks Aiya.")

"Two days later I left home for Central." Nick said in a quiet voice, still haunted by the memories of that day. "That's when I met Col. Havoc and joined the State Military, which was the second biggest mistake of my life. But it was a necessary evil, since I had vowed that I would track down the homunculus that I had created and destroy it."

"You made that promise to yourself the day your uncle told you about the homunculi, didn't you?"

Nick nodded.

"And that's why you can't quit the military and go home. I understand now."

Saying nothing Nick stood up.

Inwardly Kaori smiled. She'd known that Nick would soon grow tired of sitting under the shade trees what with him being such a restless soul. He'd already remained dormant for longer than usual and Kaori was surprised that he hadn't grown restless before know.

"So you weren't able to uncover any leads on Hunter huh?"

Until this point Kaori had avoided that particular topic of conversation for fear of what Nick's reaction would be.

Nick shook his head, surprising Kaori with his calmness. "Not that I really expected to. I knew it was a long shot before I went but I had to know for sure."

While the two kids talked they wandered further and further away from the park where their earlier conversation had taken place.

"Hey Nick, where exactly are we going?"

"No clue," Nick replied honestly. He had no set destination in mind however he felt the need to walk and couldn't fight the urge.

"Oh," Kaori said. "Okay. Just thought I'd ask."

The two walked on in silence for a few minutes before Nick stopped suddenly. Not expecting Nick's sudden halt, Kaori walked into him.

"Umph. Could you give me a little warning next time?"

"Shhh!"

Kaori immediately ceased her complaining and stared in the direction Nick was focused on. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure," Nick said. "Something moved over in that alley but I'm not exactly sure what it was. Stay here while I go and check it out."

Kaori opened her mouth, about to tell him that she didn't need the protection of a pint-sized alchemist, but quickly thought better of the idea. That would surely set him off and his rants would most likely scare off whatever was hiding in the alley.

"I'll jump on him about that later," Kaori mentally decided.

Nick slowly walked over to the alley and carefully moved aside the cardboard box that he'd seen move earlier.

As the cardboard was moved aside Kaori watched as a streak of silver leapt from the darkness. "Nick watch out!"

Nick screamed as he was suddenly knocked off his feet. The boy fell to the ground, the breath knocked from his body, however he was jarred back to his senses by the feeling of something wet on his face.

"What the hell?" Nick slowly opened his eyes and came face to face with a dog.

Growling low in his throat, which made the dog cock its head to one side and give him a quizzical look, Nick rose up and pushed the dog off his chest. He looked over his shoulder and glared at Kaori, who was laughing hysterically behind him.

"Careful Nick," the girl said between giggles. "He might eat you."

"Oh shut up," Nick snapped, glaring at her through narrowed eyes. "You were just as freaked out by that as I was."

Refusing to comment about the accusation, Kaori focused her attention on the dog. She stared at the skinny creature that sat next to Nick. The dog was a silvery gray color, with a darker gray muzzle, and he had one prick ear and one that only stood up half way. The dog's coat was very thick and he had one blue eye and one brown one. Kaori knew that the dog would be very beautiful if only he weren't so deplorably skinny. "I wonder why he's out here all alone."

Nick shrugged as he got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Someone must have abandoned him. He doesn't have a collar or tags and he looks like he hasn't had a decent meal in quite some time."

As though to confirm Nick's suspicion the dog placed its head against the boy's leg, gazed up at him and whined.

"Aw, the poor thing," Kaori said, gazing at the dog with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Nick let's take him with us."

"You're kidding, right? Your dad will go ballistic if we show up on base with that thing in tow."

"Come on Nick," Kaori said, a pleading look in her eyes. "Just look at those eyes. (Nick wasn't sure which eyes she meant. Hers or the dog's. Although it didn't really matter. Either way it was bad.) He's all alone and he's hungry. How can you say no after looking into those sad eyes?"

Nick sighed, knowing that he was defeated. "Come on then. I know when I'm beat."

And as though he understood Nick's words the dog stood up, gave a joyous bark, and began to follow Nick.

"I think you've made a friend," Kaori said as she joined them.

"Oh no," Nick said quickly, shaking his head. "Not me. He's all yours and you're going to be the one explaining to Mustang why we just had to bring him back with us."

"Fine. If you're too scared to face Dad over a little puppy then I guess I will."

"Damn right you will."

Kaori rolled her eyes but chose not to further pursue the argument. Nick was in one of those moods and she knew that if she didn't end it now the argument could go on indefinitely. That wasn't a prospect that she liked so she chose to be the mature one.

Nick led the way back to Central HQ, followed closely by the dog and Kaori. "I can't believe I let her talk me into this. I must be out of my mind. Mustang's gonna flip."

And with that to look forward to, Nick's pace slowed somewhat.

As their pace slowed the gray puppy whined and gazed up at Nick.

"Okay, okay I'm going. Man, even the dog."

About fifteen minutes later the trio arrived at Central HQ. Nick led the way over to the entrance, where the group was abruptly joined by Mustang.

Mustang stared down at the dog and then gave Nick 'the look'. Not that Nick wasn't used to eliciting that expression from his superior. "Fullmetal, what is this?"

"It's a dog sir." Nick knew better but he simply couldn't resist the sarcasm. "Carnivorous canine mammal. . ."

"Enough Fullmetal," Mustang said sharply. "Why have you brought this dog to HQ?"

Kaori made a move to answer her dad's question but, to her great surprise, Nick beat her to it.

"We found the dog abandoned in an alley," Nick told Mustang, a look of defiance in his golden eyes. "And we couldn't just leave him there to starve to death, or worse."

Mustang closed his eyes, as though suppressing a large amount of anger, but suddenly the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. "I see. Well, take the dog inside and get it something to eat."

Nick's jaw dropped. None of his mental images of this meeting with Mustang had been remotely close to what actually happened. 'Take the dog inside and feed it' had been the one order that Nick hadn't expected. 'Take the dog back where you found it' had been more along the lines of what Nick had expected to hear but even that was a toned down version.

Kaori's expression perfectly matched that of Nick and she had even more to be surprised about than he did. After all his earlier rants, when it had come down to it, Nick had actually stood up for the dog. That, in its self was a small miracle and her dad's reaction was even more surprising. She couldn't believe he was just going to allow the dog to stay, without an argument or anything.

"Dad, what's going on?"

Mustang smirked. "I know better than to argue about the dog. If I told you to take it back then word would reach your mother and then there would be hell to pay. So it's just easier for me to go ahead and tell you that you can keep the dog because, in reality no matter what I say you'll end up keeping it. The only thing debatable about this scenario is what kind of shape I'll be in at the end of this. I only have two options: I can give you permission to keep the dog and stay out of trouble or I can deny you and piss off your mother, who will then overrule me and let you keep it anyway. So I gotta tell you, given the two choices it's no contest."

"I see," Kaori said.

Having heard enough, Nick gazed down at the dog. "Come on Kemuri. Let's go and get you something to eat." And with that Nick entered HQ, with the dog close at his heels.

Kaori hung back and flung her arms around her dad. "Thanks Dad. You're the greatest."

Mustang smiled as Kaori released him and ran to join Nick and the dog.

The group walked to the cafeteria, where Nick searched the selection for something that the dog might like. Then, deciding that the dog was so malnourished that it more than likely wouldn't care what he gave it, he grabbed a variety of things and then headed back to where Kaori and the dog were waiting.

"Here you go Kemuri," Nick said, placing the food down on the floor for the dog. "Enjoy."

The dog barked happily and quickly began to devour the food. It took only minutes for the dog to finish the food.

Nick bent down and ruffled the dog's ears. "Was it good? For that matter did you even taste it?"

The dog whined and rubbed his head against Nick's leg.

"And I reiterate, I think you've made a friend for life," Kaori said with a smile.

Nick smiled. "Well I reiterate, you'd better start bonding with him because I travel a lot and I couldn't take him with me even if I wanted to, which I don't. So he's all yours."

Kaori grinned. "I think he might object to that."

"Tough. He'll just have to deal with it."

Nick stood up. "Come on boy. We'll go out into the courtyard and acquaint you with your new owner."

The dog barked and wagged his tail furiously.

Kaori was the last to rise and once she was on her feet she and the dog followed Nick out to the courtyard behind Central HQ. Once out there Nick knelt down in front of the gray puppy.

"Alright. Sorry pal, but even if I wanted to I couldn't keep you."

The dog whimpered.

"Don't worry boy. I've found someone even better to take care of you. Her name's Kaori and you'll be happier with her."

Kaori smiled and bent down to pat the dog on the head. The dog whined and rubbed his head against Kaori's hand.

"See Kemuri, what'd I tell you? I knew you'd like her."

At the sound of the boy's voice, the puppy pranced back over to him and sat down at his side. The puppy gazed up at Nick and barked at him.

"But not as much as he likes you."

"Don't worry. You'll grow on him. It'll just take some time."

"Hmm," Kaori said.

"You sound doubtful. You and him just need to bond a little bit and I have an idea that might help."

Nick clasped his hands together and used his alchemical powers to transmute a ball. The boy then picked up the ball and tossed it to Kaori.

Kaori caught the ball. She gazed down at the ball and then glanced over at Nick.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Toss the ball to the dog."

Kaori growled low in her throat and then tossed the ball across the courtyard.

The dog barked happily and tore off after the ball. The dog raced across the courtyard, grabbed the ball off the ground, and returned to the spot where the two kids were waiting.

The puppy attempted to give the ball to Nick, much to Kaori's dismay.

"See? He doesn't like me."

"He likes you just fine." Nick ignored the dog's attempts to give him the ball and eventually the dog gave up and took the ball to Kaori.

Kaori took the ball and tossed it again.

The dog once again tore off after the ball and this time, when he returned with the ball in his mouth, he went straight to Kaori.

"Good boy." Kaori patted the dog on the head.

"So what are you gonna call him Kaori?"

"What are you talking about? You've already named him. His name's Kemuri." The name meant smoke and Kaori thought that it somehow suited the little gray puppy.

"You can't be serious?"

"Of course I'm serious," Kaori said, determined to keep the connection that Nick had to the dog. "I happen to like Kemuri as a name. It's simple and it suits him."

"Have it your way," Nick said, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, have fun with your dog. I've gotta go."

Kaori again tossed the ball and when Inu ran off to retrieve it, she threw her arms around Nick. "Thank you so much Nick."

"What's up with this?" Nick asked.

Kaori released her grip on Nick and smiled at him. "You stood up for the dog and that made me happy."

Nick shrugged. "It was no big deal."

Kaori thought that it was a really big deal, given Nick's personality, yet she just smiled at the boy as he walked away. Someday she'd tell Nick exactly how big a deal it really was, but not today.

A/N - and there's chapter thirteen and Kaori made a new friend. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Til next time this is Hitsu-taichou signing out.