A/N: This update is due to being really really really sick and being out all week so I had time to type. Anyway, Disclaimer?

Shenori: Siyui-no-Akatsuki doesn't own FMA, or any of its characters. She does, however, own Shiri, and me!! ^claps^ Good deal.

Siyui: You're not even in the story yet… They don't know who you are…

Shenori: ^grin^ Oh, they will soon enough…

Siyui: Start the story!

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Lesson 5: Sadness Paves the Road to Happiness… There Will be Bright Skies Again.

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"Eeeeeeeeddd…" The Alchemist turned to me, eye twitching.

"What do you want Shiri?!"

"Ed… I'm bored…" I wailed melodramatically. We were, once again, on a train.

And it was all the way to Central, which was a three hour train trip. And, only twenty minutes in, I was bored.

Very, very bored. Personally, I think it was because of lack of people to talk to, because Ed was concentrating on something so nobody could talk unless it was him. Nobody knew where the hell Ling was, apparently he had run off again. His instant ninjas thought that he might have fallen into another alley and died, so they were very worried. What was fun was that I knew that he was on the train, just in the meal cart running up Ed's tab.

But, alas, since I can't speak, I can't tell Ed of these happenings.

Ha. Stick that in your juice box and suck it. But, the problem was…

I WAS STILL BORED. Winry couldn't even come along because she still had work to do at Garfiel's, which meant that she'd just have to come later.

"Alllllllllll… I'm hungry… Get Ed to get me foooooood…" Al turned to Ed, who was looking out the window.

"Brother…" All Ed did was turn to us and glare death.

We decided not to bother him anymore.

__________________ Two hours and forty terribly boring minutes later______________

"Young master!!! Where are you!!"

"He's passed out somewhere… I just know he has!"

I felt sorry for the instant ninja. Who knows where Ling is now…

Anyway, we finally got to Central, and I was ready to take a nap and eat some chicken! 'Cause I was very hungry, and Ed had deprived me of food because he's mean like that…

"Well, let's go say hi to the military first." My head twisted itself to face Ed's face after that comment.

"No. Food now, military later." I deadpanned, grabbing Ed's black collar and pulling him towards the restaurant that was nearby. "I'm so hungry that if I don't eat anything in the next five minutes, I'm going to eat the world." Ed scoffed.

"You can't go a measly three hours without food? And you call yourself an alchemist…" I glared at him again before reaching into his pocket and pulling out… a bag of potato chips.

"Yeah. I call myself an alchemist that doesn't transmute a bag of potato chips while no one else is looking, fart face." Ed grinned sheepishly while Al looked at him with his 'brother-I-can't-believe-you-did-something-like-that' face.

"Okay, we can go get food, then report to the military…"

Ha. I always win.

____________________ Thirty food-filled minutes later_________________

"Now we go to the military?" I nodded happily, rubbing my stomach.

"Yup. Now that I have been fed." I put a finger to my chin in thought for a moment. "Plus, I wanted to see Lt. Colonel Hughes for awhile. I didn't see him the, like, day I was back." Al nodded.

"Yeah! I want to see him too…" Ed nodded, smiling.

"Okay. We'll see him after the military." I threw my hands up in the air.

"Yay!!! Pie tiiiiiiiime!!" I started skipping towards the headquarters, my arms swaying in time with the beat. I skipped past a telephone booth, stopping, backtracking, and walking into it.

"Shiri, what are you doing?" I heard Ed inquire (A/N: Okay, really?) as I picked up the phone.

"Hello, operator?" For some reason, I didn't get a dial tone, or anything, for that matter. Setting the phone down, I walked out of the booth."Hmm… weird."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "What?" I shrugged, putting my hands in my pockets.

"For some reason, the phone isn't working. I was planning to call Gracia and Elicia…" I said sadly, my sentence trailing off. Ed shrugged.

"What does it matter? You'll see them soon enough." I grinned, walking into the headquarters building.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I could see that he was about to say something else when…

"Huh? Lieutenant Hawkeye!" The blonde woman turned to us, smiling.

"Ah, it's been awhile." I smiled, while Ed grimaced, his face falling.

"If you're here, that means…"

"Sorry to make you wait." Ed's face turned into one akin to a demon's. Roy walked around the corner, holding some files.

"I knew it…"

"Oh! Fullmetal! Sparky!" Roy said, surprise crossing his features. Ed's antenna twitched as he held his head like he had a headache.

"Why the hell are you here, Colonel?"

Almost as if he was happy about it, Roy replied, "I was transferred to Central effective last month." This, obviously, made Ed's scowl deepen. "And what about you? What brings you here?"

"Just collecting some information…"

"And we plan on saying hi to Lt. Colonel Hughes!" I said happily. "We haven't seen them in awhile, and I didn't even see him the day I was here…" For some reason, Roy's eyes widened slightly and Riza didn't look us in the eye.

"He's no longer here…" My eyebrows knotted together into a look of confusion.

"Hmm? Where'd he go?"

"To the countryside." Roy deadpanned, adding, before I could say anything, "He took his wife and daughter too. He's taking up the family business."

"It's dangerous working in the military after all." Al said, looking at me.

Ed looked down before grumbling, "I see… too bad."

"Philosopher's Stone and Homunculus, right? I'll contact you if I find anything on that." Roy said. It seemed like he just wanted to change the subject. "Let's go, Lieutenant."

Riza nodded, "Yes."

Not even turning to face us before he left, Roy added, "Don't you guys jump to any conclusions and do anything weird." I blinked.

"Sure…?"

Confused at why he would say that, Ed replied, "Yeah, whatever."

"Homunculus… Human transmutation… The Uroboros tattoo…"

"…Ed, I'm hungry again." I muttered, breaking his train of thought. We were in the hotel room, Al had gone to go get the paper, and Ed was thinking. He turned to me, glaring.

"Then go get some damn food!" I looked up from my upside down spot on the floor with puppy dog eyes.

"But you took the pass that lets us get any food."

"Because I know if I give it to you you'll spend it all up!" And, of course, this argument would continue for ever and ever…

"BROTHER! SHIRI!" The giant piece of metal we know as Al yelled, startling Ed and making him fall onto the ground, which I happened to be laying on, and so I pushed him off of me and into the coffee table.

"Please don't scare me…" I muttered, feeling my hurt head…

"Broth…" Al held up the newspaper. "The headline…Newspaper… this…" He handed it to Ed; he looked at Al with an apprehensive look before reading the newspaper.

"What… The hell?" I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at the newspaper.

"What the big…" I looked at the headline and almost choked on the air I was breathing.

2nd Lt. Ross, Convicted as the murderer of Brigadier General Maes Hughes.

I gave the paper back to Ed. I could feel myself shivering as I tried to stay standing up.

"He's…" I took off running, out the door.

_______________________ 3rd person now…___________________

Shiri ran down the alley. She heard Al and Ed following her, but she didn't think about that entirely too much. That means… He lied to me… Shiri gritted her teeth, balling up her fists as she came to an alleyway with smoke.

"Hello, Spark." Roy was standing in the alleyway, amidst all the smoke. Shiri covered her nose at the smell…

"Ugh…" She looked around, her eyes falling onto what looked like the charred remains of a body… one with the ID tag of Maria Ross.

She looked at the ground. "Maes… he's dead?"

All Shiri got in response was a solemn nod.

"And why were we the last ones to know?" She asked, her temper rising little by little.

He didn't have an answer for that.

Shiri looked up at Roy, balling her fist again. "What's going on Roy? Tell me!" She gritted her teeth again when she got no answer. "When was… he killed, huh?"

Ed and Al had just got there, and Al was holding Ed back.

"How long have you known, huh?" She started crying, little fleck of blue appearing here and there. "When did you plan on telling us?!"

"An officer of higher rank doesn't have to answer a lower rank." Roy said simply, looking down at the young state alchemist.

"When are you going to stop using excuses, Roy?" She growled, the blue flecks around her connecting."When are you going to stop treating us like freakin' babies? !"

"When you stop acting like them." Shiri didn't say anything else. Instead, she put her hand on her necklace, but before she could do anything, Al put a hand on her shoulder.

"Shiri…" She put down her hand, falling onto the ground.

"Fine." She muttered, closing her eyes.

Al looked at Shiri once before looking back at Roy. "What's going on, Colonel?"

"The murderer of Hughes, Maria Ross, was on the run and an order to kill her had been issued. That's all." He said, his eyes closed.

"That doesn't explain anything!" Al yelled.

"I apologize for hiding Hughes's death from you." Ed looked at Roy heatedly, while Shiri glowered at him.

"I don't— won't forgive you." Roy closed his eyes again for a moment before looking back at Shiri.

"I didn't ask for that." With that, Roy left.

__

"It's my fault." Ed muttered, "I pulled him into this…." Shiri looked up at Ed.

"It's not your fault, Ed…" She mumbled, "He got brought into the wrong mess…" Shiri stood up, dusting herself off. The coroner had confirmed that the body was indeed Maria's, by the teeth analysis. The military then took Maria's body off the scene. They were just sitting there, waiting.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Ed asked openly, looking up at the nighttime sky. This caused Shiri's eyes to widen as she tilted her head.

"This is the first time you've ever asked me about anything." She said, crossing her arms and sitting back down. Ed just shrugged.

"Since I don't know, I thought you might know." Before Shiri could say anything, though, Al spoke.

"We could go visit teacher," Al offered, finally speaking up after a long time.

___________________

"Why do we have to have a freakin' escort?!" Obviously, Ed was not happy. Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc sighed.

"You know the answer to that, Fullmetal. Too much weird stuff has been happening." Ed scowled his 'dammit-you're-right-and-I-have-to-listen' scowl. Shiri, on the other hand, was sitting on bench in the headquarters' lobby, swinging her legs.

"So... Who'll going to be escorting us?" Al asked, sparing his brother a small glace. Havoc smiled, crossing his arms.

"Lieutenant Colonel Timberlan." Ed put his hand to his chin, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I don't think I've ever heard of him…" Havoc shrugged.

"You probably haven't. Hell, I haven't even met 'em. The higher ups say that he was promoted just recently, and is one of the best alchemists out there." Shiri nodded happily.

"I can't wait to meet them…" Without warning, a young woman, about twenty-one, with long brown hair in high ponytail ran down the hallway at what seemed like top speed.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry..." She said quickly, running up to them and looking at Ed. "Hey, kid, do you know where the Fullmetal Alchemist and the Spark Alchemist are?" She rubbed the back of her head. "I can't seem to find them…"

Before Ed could even through his temper tantrum, the woman turned to Al. "Ah! It must be you! Hello Fullmetal—" Al scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Er, I'm not…" And then… Ed exploded.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THEY CAN'T SEE OVER A PEBBLE?!?!" The woman turned to Havoc.

"Is he okay? I think they have medicine to fix his problem…" Havoc sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, he's okay… Oh, and have you seen Lt. Colonel Timberlan? He was supposed to be here—" Grinning, the woman pointed at her chest.

"Lieutenant Colonel Shenori Timberlan, at your service." Ed stopped temper-tantruming and looked at Shenori with an abrasive look on his face.

"You can't be… you're a girl." Al and Shiri sweatdropped at the way Ed said that. Suddenly, Shenori's demeanor… changed.

And it also got a little bit darker in the room.

Picking up Ed by his collar, Shenori looked at him in the eye with amethyst pupils. "Listen here little kid: say that to me again…" She pulled out a sword with red and silver hilt and pointed it at his nose. Al, Shiri, and Havoc blanched. "…and you'll be on the wrong end of this sword, got it?" Ed nodded, feeling his antenna fall off (of course, another one took its place immediately).

"Y-yeah…" Shenori smiled, letting go of Ed.

"I'm glad we could reach an understanding." Shenori, turning to Shiri while Al tried to put Ed's soul back into his body, smiled. "And I'm guessing you're the Spark Alchemist?" Shiri nodded. Shenori held out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Shiri shook it, grinning.

"Nice to meet you too." Shenori turned to Ed, who had regained a humanoid form, and motioned for him to get up.

"Time to go, Fullmetal." She turned to Al. "To Dublith, correct?"

"Yup." Al said, nodding. Shenori smiled again.

"Okay! The train leaves in about… twenty minutes, so we better leave!" She turned to Havoc, her smile turning into a grin. "Thanks." She said, also adding with a scratch to the back of her neck, "Sorry I was late…" Havoc waved off her apology, smiling.

"It was nothing." He said, waving them off. As they left, he put his hands in his pockets.

"Well, time to go on my date!"

A/N: I know, I know. I feel as if I rushed that too. Did I? Aw… Well, at least now—

Greed: We have my arc now, right!

Siyui: ^sheepishly^ Actually… no… ^before Greed can say anything^ Anyway, Kuchaki, that's your character!! I'm sorry if she's not exactly like you wanted her to be, but that's okay, right?

Ling: I'm hungry.

Siyui: Thank you for voicing you opinion.

Ling: ^faints and falls on the ground^

Siyui: Well, that was completely pointless… Anywho, preview time!!!

Preview:

Lesson 6: Edward Elric can be thrown much farther than you'd expect.

Ed twitched in the wake of his teacher's stare.

"You guys… Did what?" Shiri grinned sheepishly.

"Well, since I better be off now…" She tried to leave, but a hand grabbed her collar.

"Don't you even dare." Al, Shiri, and Ed all gulped.

They were going to die.