Author's notes- Hooray! Chapter 3! This is when Carmen meets the others. Also, someone in the Tsubasa gang finds out about Carmen's past a little into the chapters. Just to tell you, my friend, KawaiiChibiHime33, is going to be my editor for these chapters before they're posted, so give credit to her too. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Chapter Three: The Country of Outo

"Shouldn't the kitty have woken up by now?"

"Mokona, the cat passed out from that huge wound. It might take a while for her to wake up."

"I hope she's okay."

"She's going to be fine princess. After all, you were the only one who saw her outside. When she wakes up, we'll all take care of her."

"I don't see why we're taking in a filthy stray. Who knows how much disease is in that thing right now."

"Now Big Puppy, there's no need to be harsh to a cute kitty like her."

"Who the HELL are you calling Big Puppy you stupid mage!"

"Quiet Kuro-puu. I think she's waking up."

Carmen's cat ears twitched as she slowly opened her eyes. After the blinding golden light left her vision, she was surprised to see four people standing over her. She then noticed they had dressed her wound for her.

"Hooray! The kitty's awake!" shouted a high pitched voice happily. Carmen turned her head to find what looked like a white manju bun wearing a small pink apron around her middle standing next to her. Both of her ears were so long that they touched the counter top (where Carmen was laying on her stomach). Something that looked like an earring hung from the creature's right ear. Not to mention the abnormally large feet. To top it off, a red, round looking gem looked attached to her forehead. There was also the fact that this thing could talk, which Carmen had no idea they could do.

"Well, it looks like someone had a good nap." Carmen looked up and came face to face with the blond haired male dressed as a bartender. He had a wide grin on his face and his blue eyes sparkled in welcome. He then gestured to the others for introductions.

"The young man here in the black is Syaoran, also commonly known in this world as Little Puppy. The lovely young lady next to him is Princess Sakura, or Little Kitty. This sullen fellow in black is our Kurgy-pie, or Big Puppy. I am Fai D. Flowright, otherwise known as Big Kitty. This little white cutie next to you is Mokona." "Nice to meet you! Yup yup!" said the manju bun.

Syaoran and Sakura gave her welcoming smiles, while Kurogane grunted. But, realizing what Fai had just called him, yelled "Kurogane you idiot, Kurogane!" Fai just laughed.

"I highly doubt it understands what you're saying. It's a dumb animal for God's sake!" Kurogane continued, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Carmen's eyebrow twitched with annoyance. She'd show him a dumb animal! Carefully getting into a sitting position, she took a deep breath and answered, in human speech, "It's nice to meet you all. My name is Carmen Vega."

The room went completely silent as everyone (except Fai, who continued to smile in a goofy manner) stared, with their jaws hanging open, in bewilderment at the now speaking cat. "Take that Kurogane." Carmen thought to herself, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

The stunned silence was finally broken when Syaoran spoke.

"It's nice to, uh, meet you Miss Vega." said Syaoran feeling slightly awkward talking to a cat.

Suddenly, a strange sensation came over Carmen. It told her that she was going to change back into her human form if she didn't get off the counter. She jumped lightly to the floor, and waited patiently as golden light consumed her. Back in her human form, she laughed as four bewildered faces looked back at her(Fai, again strangely continued to smile, which was starting to freak her out a little bit.)

"Okay, that's enough staring everyone. Anyway, like I said, My name is Carmen Vega. As you can see, I just changed from a cat to a human. Don't worry, that only happens once in a while." she reassured them casually.

"Well, we're happy to have someone like you in our cafe, Carmen. If you don't mind, would you mind telling us were you're from?" Fai asked her curiously.

Carmen's smile fell slightly. "Well, if you want to know, I'm actually from another world. My homeland is this place called Risembool. By the way, where am I?"

This time, Syaoran answered. "Your in Outo country. We just got here two days ago, so like you, we're all pretty new here." he explained.

"Carmen, do you have anywhere to stay?" Sakura asked her quietly.

The alchemist mentally kicked herself. She had been so busy trying to find help for her wound, she hadn't thought about that. "Not really..." she began when out of no where, Mokona landed on her head. "You can stay here with us! Can she Fai, please?" the manju pleaded.

"Sure, I don't see why not. We have a spare room. Your welcome to stay with us." Fai offered cheerfully.

"Oh no! It's fine! I can find somewhere else to stay." Carmen answered. She didn't want to make a pain of herself.

"Nonsense! You can stay here as long as you need to." he urged.

"Well, ok. Thank you." she accepted reluctantly, which caused an excited squeal from Mokona.

"Hooray! New members to the family!" Mokona cried out in delight.

Kurogane, who hadn't said anything in the past five minutes, muttered quietly, but loud enough for only Carmen to hear, "Great, just what we need. More baggage to drag around." Carmen was hurt by the comment, but chose to ignore it. Instead, she bowed her head in thanks. "Thank you, everyone. I'll try not to be a nuisance."

A few hours later, Carmen was laying on her back in bed, in her new bedroom. The five of them and Mokona had eaten a quick dinner and had gone straight to they're rooms afterwords. It was then that Carmen was able to explain a little more about how she got to Outo, how she was an alchemist, about Risembool and her world, a little info about the Ikora tribe, since Sakura had questioned her about the cat mark on her left arm, and why she had an automail hand instead of a real one.

Fai had then explained what they were doing in Outo. They were looking for a white feather, and important item that belonged to Princess Sakura. They then told her how Sakura had lost her memory, and how the four of them were working hard to retrieve every one until her wings were complete. That then turned to the part of the story of how they had all met. Fai had wanted to leave his world because of personal reason of his own, Syaoran and Sakura had left their world to find the feathers, and Kurogane had been sent away from his world because of slight troubles he caused back home.

Kurogane made Carmen very confused. Why did he make that remark when they met? She hadn't done anything to anger or annoy him, had she? Maybe the ninja was going to be one of those people who was, and always would be, hard to figure out.

Carmen's mind then switched back to her world. What was happening right now? Was everyone frantically looking for her after her disappearance? How was Sarah coping? Would she think she was safe even when her older sister was gone? Carmen had always protected Sarah. She had promised her father the night of his death that she would.

Pushing the thoughts out of her head, Carmen turned on her side, closed her eyes, and faded into the darkness.

Post notes- Another chapter done. And you know what that means. Time for another instalment of Carmen's backround info :D.

Inside Carmen's locket is a picture of her, her mother, and her father. It was taken a year before her mother died. Carmen never shows the picture to anyone (sort of like Ed and his silver watch.) Also, you might want to know what Carmen looks like when she was little, and when she was fifteen. Have a picture of young Winry in your head, with her ponytail hairstyle and everything. Now, picture her with light brown hair and green eyes. That's what young Carmen looks like. Now, 15 year old Carmen has her bangs grown out, and her hair is just down and it goes halfway down her back. Her wardrobe consist of white tank tops, t-shirts, cargo pants, jeans, always the combat boots, and sometimes sneakers. Oh, and she has this awesome brown winter coat, sort of like a North Face, except without the logo. Oh yeah, and in cat form, Carmen's fur is this milk chocolate color, but her paws (she's missing a fourth one cause of her automail hand) are tan, the tip of her tail is tan, and her muzzle is tan. Around her neck is the marking of her necklace, chain and heart, in a tan color. Kay, that's all I'm gonna tell you.

Read, review, and comment, and I'll see you in chapter four.

Your Friend,

Carmen Viega