Okay, as of today I have received several notes from people asking me when I'm going to update 'What One May Never See'. I regret to inform you that the next update may take a while, mostly because I've recently gone back and re-read several of my earliest chapters, and have come to the conclusion that they desperately need to be edited. Typos, spelling and grammatical errors abound in at least the first five chapters, and some of the plot needs some serious help, or at least a little more detail thrown in to make it not as quick and easy. Some of the editing in the chapters will be minor, while others are major, and I will post a note of some kind that will tell everyone just how much has changed so you all know what's going on.

Also, my mother is going in for surgery in about three days, and it's pretty major. The recovery time for her surgery is about two months, so that means that I'm going to be pretty busy helping out around the house because she won't be able to… not to mention the fact that my older brother is a bum and won't help out worth beans even when he's not working. College was great this last semester, but it took a lot out of me from the workload, and I'm still recovering from the case of PTSD that all of my finals gave me. My brother is being a butthead and being difficult with the rest of my family… again. One of my friends is getting married on the 20th, so I have to help with that too… in short, Hitokiri is about to spontaneously combust from all of the stress and really wishes that she could get the hell out of dodge and just escape from it all for a while.

I have a question for everyone: If I were to rewrite 'What One May Never See' into an original story, how many of you would want to read it? Basically, Annora and Ethan would be the same people, but everyone else would change, as would several good-sized chunks of the plot. Envy would still be in the story, but he'd be radically different… well, in the fact of his creation and some of his attitude, as well as how he treats his own kind. So, just let me know what you think, okay?

Okay, now that I've got that off of my chest, I am going to bring you some good news. I am starting a sidestory to 'What One May Never See' called 'Little Moments' that I will update while I work on editing 'What One May Never See'. Pretty much it will consist of a bunch of one-shots of events that are referred to in 'WOMNS', but aren't in the actual story.

So, to make up for my complete and utter lack of activity since January, here's a preview of the first chapter of 'Little Moments'.

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Little Moments

The Shopping Incident

"Annora, is that the only shirt you have?"

The girl in question froze as she stood there at the kitchen counter, trying to figure out whether or not this was a trick question, before she turned around to face the seven-foot tall suit of armor standing behind her. The dishes she had been drying off left over from breakfast – a piece of hastily eaten toast and a glass of orange juice – were left lying abandoned on the counter, along with the dishtowel she had been using to dry them.

"And what has you so interested?" she asked dryly as she arched an eyebrow, smiling faintly to show the boy that she wasn't upset by the question. Al actually managed to look nervous as he rubbed the back of his helmet with his hand, letting out a sheepish chuckle as he did so.

"Well, you've been here for five days now, and I keep seeing you wear the same shirt over and over again," he pointed out, indicating to the blue long-sleeved shirt that Annora was currently wearing under a black t-shirt that proudly sported the phrase 'You say PSYCHO like it's a bad thing'. Annora gave the younger boy a wry grin as she crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back against the wooden counter easily.

"Sorry, but I forgot to pack a spare change of clothes for the sleepover," she drawled sarcastically before she straightened up and returned to the task of drying the dishes. "Certain individuals neglected to mention that this was going to be more than an overnight thing."

"Oh."

The teen scowled slightly as she started scrubbing rather vigorously at her plate and continued muttering, ignoring Al's oh-so-astute response. "Said certain egotistical individuals that also seem to have a rather inappropriate obsession with burning things and tormenting hapless teenage girls who have done nothing wrong other than borrow a book from one of their mental friends."

Al blinked as he watched the older girl, noting from her somewhat tense posture that she wasn't as uncaring about the subject as she would like him to believe. The fact that she was currently toweling the dishes dry with an irritated vengeance was just another indication that Annora Thomas was not a happy camper. Although Alphonse knew that if he had been told that he and his family technically didn't exist, and that he had to stay with a bunch of strangers until the military could actually locate his brother, he probably wouldn't be very happy either.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to the youngest Elric as he gave Annora an odd look.

"Annora, have you been sleeping in your clothes?"

Surprisingly the teen blanched at the question before she gave a nervous laugh and refused to meet his red gaze.

"Well, you see, there's a funny story to that," she said with a sheepish chuckle as she started to put the dry dishes away. "Define what you would qualify as sleeping in your clothes. Because if you really want to argue about it, we always sleep in clothing of some form… well, at least those of us who aren't nudists or exhibitionists."

If he could have, Al would have arched an eyebrow as he looked at the brunette oddly.

"It's where you fall asleep wearing the same clothes that you wore the day before," the boy explained patiently, not really wanting to inquire as to why Annora felt the need to mention nudists in her explanation, even if she was being sarcastic. Annora gave him a look that Al had quickly learned to interpret that she was embarrassed and didn't want to talk about whatever was making her uncomfortable.

She did that with a lot of things, like when Al tried to convince her that she didn't have to do any chores, or when he asked about her parents.

"Umm… I plead the Fifth?"

"Annora, that's not an answer," Al sighed wearily.

"Yes it is. I means that I have the right to remain silent, because anything I say can and will be used against me in a court of law," she quipped brightly with a shit-eating smirk on her face, at least until she wrinkled her nose slightly as a thought hit her. "Then again, Mustang's already been doing that with me, so it's not like it exactly works."

The girl let out a long sigh of defeat as she reached up and raked her hand through her bangs, causing her hair to fall messily into her eyes.

"Yes, I've been sleeping in my clothes," she finally admitted reluctantly before she shot Al a wry look. "No offense or anything, but there is no way in hell that I'd ever sleep starkers, especially not when I'm in a house with two teenage boys."

"And I thank you for it," Al said with a chuckle, trying to dispel the tension that was lingering in the air. Annora quirked an eyebrow curiously at him before she allowed a sardonic smile to creep across her face.

"Hey, my brother's the one in my family who's mental, not me," she stated with a dismissive shrug as she straightened up and made as though to leave the kitchen. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some math homework to finish up. I don't need my geometry teacher blowing a gasket because I crapped out on my homework and the best excuse I can give her is 'I accidentally wound up in this fictional country and got held captive by their military over the weekend'."