Chapter 3:

Fault of Accident

No way am I dying now!

Kagome tossed her new weapon to the side and leapt over the edge of the stairwell, plummeting to the floor as shot after shot resounded in the cavernous church. She forced her knees to go slack and allowed herself to tumble forward over her shoulder, ending up in a crouched position.

Resisting the urge to gloat at her superspy-worthy touchdown, she immediately darted over to the stairwell, hiding in the shadows so the priest wouldn't see her—and shoot at her again.

When the shooting stopped she let her eyes travel to the place where the man, girl, and brat had stood. She grimaced at the sight of all that dust. I told them to run, but did they listen to me? Nope. When the dust cleared to reveal a huge wall in front of where the brat had been standing, now riddled with indents, her eyes widened in disbelief. What the—how did that get there?!

The brat laughed from behind said wall. The priest's loud exclamation of "WHAT?" echoed her thoughts perfectly.

"Nice try, buddy," the blonde taunted. "But you'll have to do better than that!"

The priest caught sight of the armored man who had scooped up the girl. "You!" Discarding his first machine gun, he focused on them and began firing again. The girl shrieked as the man turned, letting the bullets bounce off his back. The clang of metal on metal filled the large church.

"Hey!" Kagome yelled, fed up with the priest's antics. She wasn't going to let him get away with that—that girl could wind up dead! Against her better judgment, she jumped out from her hiding place in the shadows, racing across the room in a streak of white and green.

The firing stopped temporarily and she skidded to a halt near the rock wall the brat had erected in front of him. She searched the ground quickly and snatched up the first rock she found, pressing it between her palms and letting her sparking powers charge it with energy.

The priest lowered his gun, apparently deeming it unnecessary, and laughed. "You honestly think a rock could hurt me? You are a greater fool than I had realized, alchemist girl!"

A tick mark of annoyance popped up on Kagome's temple. Why was it that all these evil guys were constantly underestimating her? Did she really appear so powerless? Well, this one was about to get it, whether he liked it or not! When she had stuffed the rock with as much power as she could muster, she wound her arm back. "Eat purity, smiley!" she screamed, hurling the super-charged ball of energy at Cornello.

The priest's eyes widened as the rock hurdled towards him. He moved to raise his hands in front of his face, but it was too late. The rock hit him square in the forehead. His mouth opened in a silent scream, his eyes bugging out. The rock crackled with red energy. There was a sickening breaking sound, like stepping on a beetle.

Then he fell. And didn't get up again.

Time stopped. Kagome's satisfaction vanished like a balloon deflating, a ghost of a triumphant smile still on her face. Her throat went dry. Did I just…?

"Founder?"

The quiet feminine voice cut through the silence, sending a chill down Kagome's spine. Her head turned slowly to her left. A door she hadn't noticed before had been opened, and there stood the burly, dark-haired man from earlier, now accompanied by a girl in her late twenties and an older man. Their faces were painted with shock.

Kagome's mouth opened and shut several times before she found the will to speak. "I—"

"You killed him?" asked the dark-haired man, cutting her off. His hands were beginning to shake. He balled them into fists.

Guilt swept through her. She glanced at the fallen priest, who hadn't moved. She had a feeling he never would. She looked back at the people in the doorway helplessly. "I didn't mean to," she said weakly, and she hadn't. She'd wanted to incapacitate him long enough for them to escape, maybe zap him a little, but certainly not kill him. Killing was so severe, so final. Even if he was a fraud, she hadn't wanted to kill him.

"You killed the Founder!" the man yelled.

The woman pressed her hands to her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. Kagome stumbled forwards a step, her hand reaching out helplessly and her expression pleading, but the woman gave a little shriek and flinched backward.

Kagome froze, her arm falling limply to her side. The shouts of the two men calling for others barely registered in her mind. As she stared at the woman, whose eyes were still glued to her in a mixture of fear and disgust, it occurred to her that this must be how Inuyasha felt when villages wouldn't allow him in because of his half-demon blood. But there was a glaring difference between the two of them, one that made her feel sick to her stomach: his blood hadn't been his fault, but the death of the Founder was entirely hers.

She had just killed a human being.

Someone was shaking her arm, yelling at her. She blinked as the words became clear. "Come on, bow-chick, we gotta get out of here!"

Kagome looked to her right and saw that it was the brat. Now that he was close to her, she realized he was actually taller than she was.

She shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking about the height issues she and twerpy apparently shared! She looked back over her shoulder and saw that the two men had been joined by several more, most of whom were wielding guns that were now pointed directly at them.

Shit. Forcing herself to ignore the woman who had sunk to her knees, her shoulders trembling with sobs and her face buried in her hands, Kagome shook off the brat's gloved hand and dashed over to the pink-banged girl, who had been staring slack-jawed at the fallen Founder since Kagome had…

Kagome shoved the thought away and snatched the girl's hand. She'd worry about that kind of thing later, when they weren't running from what was quickly becoming an angry mob.

The girl was jolted from her gape-mouthed observation when Kagome began dragging her towards the door leading to Father Cornello's study. After a short moment the girl picked up on what was happening and Kagome loosened her grip on her wrist. She had just enough time to snatch up her discarded bow and quiver as they raced through the open door, chased by the sharp crashes of gunshots. The armored guy and twerp followed suit, and Kagome slammed the door shut after them. Twerp immediately did an about-face, slapping his hands together before pressing them to the floor. Kagome's eyes went wide as energy crackled through the floor up into the door. The wall warped slightly, and then the door melted into the wall behind it.

"Wh—wha—what was that?!" she squeaked, pointing weakly at the wall. She heard a couple more gunshots on the other side of the door-made-wall.

Ignoring her, twerp turned and thrust his hand out to his brother. In it were the crumbled remains of the stone that had been on Cornello's ring. Kagome watched as the last dredges of Jewel-esque energy slipped away.

"Useless," spat the twerp. "It was a fake."

"A fake?" replied the armored man, disbelief clear in his rather high-pitched voice.

Twerp brushed the pieces off his hands, letting them scatter on the floor. "And here I thought I'd be able to restore you…"

"Ooooookay," Kagome cut in, tired of a) being clueless and b) being ignored for the umpteenth time today, which just so happened to be the only day so far she had ever saved the world and therefore deserved attention. Twerp and Armor glanced at her, seeming to just realize she was there. She sucked in a breath, preparing for a rant, but Twerp beat her to it, taking a step forward and slightly in front of Armor.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "Where did you come from?"

She huffed, crossing her arms. "Who are you, and where are we?"

"I asked first," he said angrily. "How did you kill Cornello?"

A sharp ache pulled in her chest. "I… I didn't mean to," she murmured, glancing away. "I just wanted to get rid of the Jewel he was using. My powers don't usually hurt humans."

"Powers?" Twerp frowned at her. "Jewel? You mean the fake Philosopher's Stone?"

"I think so." She pressed a hand to her forehead to ease her headache while she used the other to fidget with her skirt. She swallowed. "I don't know how I killed—" She stopped abruptly as another slew of words and ideas raced through her head. Energy. Short-circuit. Nerves.

Kagome gritted her teeth. "I really don't think now is the time to be worrying about that," she ground out. "We need to get out of here. They're pissed." Intending to end the conversation there and not bring it up again, she turned to where she thought the girl should have been standing, but she wasn't there. Kagome blinked. "Where'd—?"

"Rose!" The armored man's voice cut her off. Kagome looked around and froze at the sight of the gun that was now leveled at her face.

Angry tears rolled down the girl's cheeks. Kagome's lips parted in shock.

"Rose, what are you—?!"

"He was going to bring him back!" she screamed. She gun shook dangerously in her hands. "He promised me he'd bring him back if I prayed hard enough and you killed him!"

The color drained from Kagome's face.

"Rose…" began Armor.

"NO! He told me he could bring him—bring him back…" She sniffled, more tears gushing from her eyes.

"You can't bring someone back from the dead, Rose," said Twerp. There was something in his voice that was deeper than his words. Regret. He held up his metal arm. "This is what comes of human transmutation, Rose. There's a reason it's forbidden."

The toll. The words itched against her ears.

Rose's eyes flitted between Kagome and Twerp. Slowly, she began to lower the gun…

"OPEN UP!"

BAM!

Kagome shrieked, her left leg buckling beneath her as pain shot through her thigh. Rose's strangled cry mingled with her own as Twerp swore.

"Al, we have to get them out of here!"

Kagome whimpered, clutching her thigh. Blood oozed between her fingers. She hadn't the slightest idea how bad the wound actually was, and she didn't have the nerve to look. Guns are scary. She let out a yelp of pain as she was lifted up into someone's arms. Armor.

"Sorry," he said. "It'll be okay." He picked up Rose with the other arm and strode purposefully to the window.

He then proceeded to kick out the glass and leap out into the open air. Both girls screamed. Pain laced through Kagome's leg when they landed on the roof of the house next door. She latched onto the hard arm holding onto her with one arm and clutched her bow and quiver with the other, squeezing her eyes shut as they set off over the rooftops. After a moment, she began to hear the sounds of bullets ricocheting off Armor's… armor.

We're gonna get shot! She forced herself to open her eyes and saw that Twerp was racing after them, chased by bullets fired from the window of what appeared to be a massive church. She clenched her jaw in concentration and managed to construct a weak barrier between Twerp and the church. It glowed with swirling red patterns where the bullets struck it.

No more pink, I guess, she mused.. I guess I really am in another dimension…

For some reason, Kagome found herself feeling very, very dizzy.

-oOo-

Kagome lay still for a long moment before realizing she was staring at a wall, and for another long moment before she realized she was in a bed. Vaguely confused, she shifted to her other side. Her eyes widened as pain burned her thigh, and she gasped sharply, suddenly wide-awake.

Oh, that's right. She shot me because…

Kagome closed her eyes. An ache tugged at her throat and stung the rims of her eyes.

Shocked eyes bulging from their sockets. A mouth open in horror and pain. Red energy hissing and crackling. Tears.

Kagome opened her eyes, forcing the images out of her head. She didn't have time for this right now. She had to figure out what was going on. She had to make sure the others were alright.

Steeling herself, she pulled off the sheet that had covered her. Someone had bandaged her leg, and had obviously done a good job of it.

Kagome smiled to herself. Kaede would have approved.

She felt a pang in her chest and her smile faded.

"We're going to win today, Kaede. I can feel it."

"That is good, Kagome," the old miko replied, her brow wrinkling as she squinted to see the fletching of the arrow she was finishing off. "You have spent too much time on this. Ever since our aunt died and the villagers named you their new miko…"

Kagome swallowed the cottony feeling on the back of her tongue. In the past two years, Kaede's slips had become more and more frequent. And not just about Kagome and Kikyou—she once forgot Miroku's name, calling him Tomoe or Tamoe or something of that sort, and another time she couldn't remember what the Sacred Jewel was. Kagome guessed it was Alzheimer's, or at least something similar.

"We have to wake her up!"

The whisper-yell from outside the door snatched her from her reverie. She looked up, remembering once again where she was.

"Ed, she needs rest," replied a rather high-pitched male voice that Kagome recognized as Armor-guy. She carefully shifted her legs over the side of the bed and tested out her thigh by pressing down with her feet.

She grimaced. This is going to hurt. She looked up and glanced around. The room she was in was small, with only a dresser, a closet, and the bed she had been sleeping in. Faint sunlight trickled in through a tiny window above the bed, illuminating a small patch on the closet door with a warm orange light.

"What she needs is to wake up so we can get the hell out of here before those idiots find us!" replied Ed.

Cornello had mentioned an Edward Elric. The "Fullmetal Alchemist"...

That would be twerp, I suppose. She stood up and, choosing to ignore the throbbing ache from her leg, and hobbled her way to the door.

"But Ed, what if she—"

"She" swung the door open quietly, leaning against the doorframe and keeping the pain from showing in her face. Armor fell silent. Twerp—Ed—was standing next to him.

He began to frown at the sight of her, but then his expression contorted and a deep blush spread across his cheeks and he looked away suddenly, covering his mouth with his hand. Armor also turned his head to avoid looking at her directly.

Kagome blinked at them. Then she looked down. Whoever had bandaged her leg had also removed the rest of her clothing to check for other injuries, leaving her in only her bra, panties, and the leg bandage. She froze, her eyes widening. Color rushed to her face as she clenched her fists in indignation, looking up to glare at the two males. "Perverts!" she shrieked, moving backwards as quickly as her injured leg would carry her and slamming the door shut behind her.

"WHAT?!" came Ed's immediate reply. "We didn't do anything! You're the one that came prancing out in your underthings!"

Kagome's entire body flushed in fury and embarrassment. "You didn't have to look!" she yelled back through the door as she began to search the room for some clothes to put on.

"I'm so sorry!" Armor was repeating (in various forms) the whole time. "I didn't mean to!"

"Where else were we supposed to look? You were just suddenly there! We didn't ask you to join our conversation, you know!"

Ignoring her burning face and the boys' accusative yells/pleas for forgiveness, Kagome tugged open the closet doors. It contained many pieces of female clothing, all about her size. She noted that her junior high uniform was nowhere to be found.

Frowning, she sorted through the clothes and picked out the first thing she liked—a simple sky-blue sundress that looked like it would be about knee-length. She turned slightly and realized there was a mirror on the inside of one of the closet doors. She caught sight of her reflection and noticed whoever had bandaged her wound had also scrubbed her down as well as they could with a sponge or something. The last traces of demon blood from that morning had been wiped away, and although her hair was starting to get a bit greasy, the worst of the tangles were now gone. I can't believe all that happened just this morning. This has been one long day…

Kagome's brow wrinkled as she noticed something else. Something distinctly strange. The corners of her mouth tugged downward as she stepped closer to the mirror. The patch of sunlight was now shining onto the side of her torso.

Her eyelids flew open and the dress fluttered to the ground. A tiny squeak escaped her as she clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Every time you pass through the Between you're returned to the state you were in the first time you came."

Gingerly, she reached down with one of her hands and prodded her side with a finger. Smooth. She felt the skin around her side to check if she'd missed it, and then checked the other side just in case.

It was gone. The scar she'd received when Mistress Centipede had ripped the Sacred Jewel from her side.

"What's with the outfit?"

Kagome groaned and closed her eyes. "I cannot believe this."

She was fifteen again.

"Hey! Hurry up, Miss Public Exposure!" Ed grouched loudly from behind her door, waking her from her thoughts. Armor continued to apologize.

Kagome growled under her breath. "I'll be done in just a second!" she yelled back, bending slowly to pick up the dress before pulling it over her head. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it would do for now. She also picked through the shoes at the bottom of the closet and took a pair of ballet flats before slipping them on. These did fit perfectly, thank goodness, and when Kagome answered the door again, she looked a lot more decent while doing so.

She narrowed her eyes at the boys. "Who bandaged my leg?" she demanded.

Ed narrowed his eyes right back. "Rose did."

Kagome relaxed slightly at that. Then she frowned again. Wasn't she the one who shot me?

Preferring not to question hospitality when it was extended to her, she pushed the thought away. "Who are you guys?" she asked.

Ed huffed slightly. "My name's Ed, and this is my brother Al. We're the Elric brothers," he put in, as if expecting her to recognize their names.

Kagome, of course, did not. "That's lovely," she said dryly. She saw Ed shoot her a glare. "I'm Kagome Higurashi," she continued. "What's with the armor, by the way?"

The Elrics exchanged glances. After a moment, they both shrugged. Al cleared his throat. "It's kind of… shocking," he warned. He lifted his hands and pulled off his helmet to reveal that no one was there.

Kagome arched a brow. "A possessed suit of armor?"

Al chuckled, putting his helmet back on. "Sort of."

"You don't seem surprised at all," Ed said, something like accusation hiding under his tone.

She gave him a look. "I've seen much weirder," she said. A sense of smugness made her smirk and cross her arms. She found she liked her new gloating rights: finally, she was the one who knew what was going on. "Now, you mentioned leaving?"

Ed crossed his arms. "Yeah. Come on." They led her down the hallway to some stairs, which led into what appeared to be a kitchen. A woman was facing away from them, washing her hands in the sink. She turned around when they came in, and Kagome saw that it was the girl from earlier, Rose. Her eyes found Kagome's and they stared at one another for a long moment before Rose looked away.

"Thank you for fixing me up," Kagome said carefully.

"No problem," Rose replied. "I'm training to be a nurse."

Training? Kagome thought to herself. She caught sight of the bow and quiver she'd taken from Cornello's office leaning against one of the walls. She went (read: "limped over") to pick them up as Ed spoke.

"Thanks for helping us out, Rose," he said, "But we really need to get going before the rioters find Kagome."

Kagome picked up her new weapons. Great. I started a riot, she thought to herself. "Where are we going?"

"We're taking you to New Optain," said Ed. "You need to see a real doctor and have that bullet taken out before it gets infected." He exhaled shortly in what could have been a light scoff or an aggravated sigh. "We're not going to find one around here willing to help you, I'm afraid."

"Okay…" Kagome fiddled with the feathering of one of her new arrows. "And where exactly is 'here' again?"

"Liore," Rose supplied. She leaned against the counter behind her and cocked her head to the side. "I take it you're not from around here."

Kagome shook her head, slinging the quiver of arrows over her shoulder. "Definitely not." Not wanting to go into that and have them think she was a complete nuthead, she changed the subject. "Are these your clothes?"

Rose nodded. "You can have them. They don't stand out as much as your other clothes. Which are right there, by the way," she said, gesturing to the table, where her uniform was stacked neatly on the table.

"Thanks."

"We need to get out of here," Ed put in. "Thanks Rose."

She gave a wry smile. Kagome's jaw tightened when she noticed the girl's red-rimmed eyes—she had been crying. "No problem."

Al thanked Rose as he and his brother moved toward the door. Ed ran a gloved hand over his hair as he opened the door for his brother and Kagome. Al went outside, but Kagome hesitated at the door.

"Come on, we have to go," Ed urged.

She shook her head slightly, pulling herself from her thoughts. "Yeah…" She looked at Rose and their eyes met. Kagome swallowed. "I'm sorry," she said. As if that was enough.

Rose gave a short laugh. "Be careful."

And then Ed got tired of waiting and pulled her outside himself.

-oOo-

Several alleys' worth of sneaking and limping and hiding from rioting civilians later, the three teenagers finally made it to the station. Kagome was about ten seconds away from ripping Ed's braid right off his head. Ed was having similar feelings. Al just hoped they stopped bickering soon so that all three of them wouldn't get caught.

"Okay, see that train?" said Ed, jabbing a finger at the nearest train. There weren't many passengers on the train, but it was obviously preparing to leave the station soon.

Ed, Al, and Kagome were currently hiding behind some barrels behind the ticket booth.

"No, I don't see," Kagome retorted. "Maybe you should be more clear?"

"Would you shut up already?" Ed whisper-screeched.

Kagome gasped and put a mocking finger over her lips, shushing him. "They'll hear us!" she said, feigning extreme concern.

"Yes, they will, if you keep screwing around!"

"Oh my gosh," she said, rolling her eyes. She poked her head out from behind the barrels. There was almost no one left on the platform. The conductor was pacing evenly along the platform, occasionally glancing at his watch. Kagome glanced around. Their hiding place was only about fifteen feet from the train, and only a few more feet away from where two of the cars linked together. The car to their right was a passenger car, as were all the cars in that direction, but to the left were several freight cars and a coal car, and then the engine.

"What are you—?"

"Shhh!" She focused again on the conductor. Twelve paces that way, pause, twelve paces this way, pause, repeat… "Guys, get ready," she said, tightening her grip on her bow. "I'm going first, okay? I'll wave you across as soon as you have an opening."

"But—!"

Pause. "See ya!" she whispered as the conductor turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. Clenching her jaw and willing herself to tread lightly despite the pain in her thigh, she darted to the train and slipped between the two cars and onto the small deck of the passenger car. She held her breath, waiting for someone to notice her and yell, but it didn't come. After a couple seconds, she exhaled quietly and looked back at the Elric brothers.

Al seemed vaguely impressed—she really couldn't tell, what with his lack of a face and all. Ed was fuming. She winked at him and found the conductor once again. A couple more seconds and… She gestured swiftly, and then both of them set off after her at the same time. Her expression melted into one of horror at the really-super-obvious clanking noise Al made as they closed the space between her and them, but to her extreme gratitude, the train whistle chose that exact moment blow loudly, effectively drowning out all noise, and the brothers made it safely onto the train just as it began to move.

"You almost got us caught!" she hissed as the pair clambered up next to her.

Ed scoffed. "Yeah, right. If we hadn't gone at the same time, we wouldn't have both made it," he pointed out.

Kagome glared daggers at him as he eyed the freight car in front of them. "We need to get in there," he said.

"Yeah, much safer than just standing here waiting to get caught," agreed his brother, already leaping across the gap between the two cars and latching onto the ladder on the side of the freight car. He tugged himself up the ladder and onto the top of the train as his brother followed him.

Kagome made the mistake of looking down. The cars were only connected by two pieces of metal linked together. They looked way too rusty to actually support a train car. The ground rushed by faster and faster underneath her feet as the train gained speed. Suddenly the space between her and the ladder seemed a lot bigger.

She gulped. "Um, guys?" she said.

Ed looked over his shoulder at her. He was already almost over the ladder. Al had disappeared entirely from view, presumably having opened (or made) a hatch on the top of the car and slipped inside. Ed raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you waiting for?"

"I—ah…" She trailed off, wetting her lips. "I don't know if I can make it across." She gestured to her injured leg.

Ed looked at her blankly for a moment before giving a long-suffering sigh, crawling back down the ladder. "Here." He extended a hand to her. She bit her lip and looked at his hand, then at the ground again.

"Looking down just makes it worse," he advised, sounding a bit bored.

Kagome huffed and looked up at him. His eyes met hers in what could have been boredom or a challenge. Making sure her quiver was secure and stringing her bow over her shoulder, she set her jaw and reached out for him. Their fingers just barely touched. Geez, that is a long way.

She took a deep breath and jumped. His hand immediately clasped hers and pulled her towards him. It seemed like an eternity before her other hand met the cool steel of the ladder, and then he had released her hand and threaded his arm behind her back to tug her the rest of the way onto the ladder and stabilize her. When her feet found the ladder, she released a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding.

"Got it?" he asked.

His voice was just next to her ear. Kagome blushed and pulled back a bit, and he released his hold around her waist. "I'm fine," she said. "Thanks." She jerked her chin towards the ladder. "Ladies first."

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimers:

I do not own Inuyasha or Fullmetal Alchemist, but I do own this story, and if you steal it I will get really pissed off at you. Any similarities between this and other fics is purely coincidental and if you accuse me of stealing, I will also get really pissed off at you. (I am rather easily pissed off.) Please bear in mind that there are bound to be likenesses between mine and other IY/FMA or FMA fics because I'm planning on following the FMA storyline (manga/2009 anime version), at least in the beginning, so if it's related to the order of events, well, please don't bother bringing it up, okay?

This fic is rated T. I reserve the right to heated makeout scenes and excessive swearing/violence, and I also reserve the right to up the rating at any point if I so chose. I honestly don't think that'll happen; nevertheless, be prepared.

Updates will come and go as I see fit. I may mess around for months at a time just to put out a filler chapter and randomly go on hiatus right after a cliff-hanger, but I will finish this story. Eventually.