It was sometime near dusk that Al went off on his own to find Ana again. Night would arrive in the coming hour and his mother had warned him not to stay out too long after. Alphonse had promised not to, saying that he hoped that his friend would come back with him to join them for dinner. He'd asked Edward if he wanted to go with him, but his brother was being grumpy as usual where Ana was concerned.

"Why go looking for someone who's not there?"

Fine. If his brother wanted to be that way, then fine. He'd show him. When Ana came over to eat with them, then Ed would have to apologize! And he'd have to stop being so mean about it, and maybe then they could all play together!

"Ana!" Al called loudly, waving his arms in the air with much enthusiasm.

The teenager lifted her gaze to him from where she sat on the river bank. Something seemed off about her, and Al would have been worried had her face not melted into a welcoming smile.

"Hey, you found me!" she grinned, waving him over. "Watchya doin', little dude?"

Al returned the smile easily and raced over to her. Plopping down beside her, he chatted, "I was looking for you. You left really fast…"

Ana's grin faltered a moment before it returned at full wattage. "That's 'cause I'm a ninja. I'm so fast you won't notice when I come or leave."

Large gray eyes stared up at her in wonder, "What's a ninja?"

The same reaction occurred from when he had asked about gummy bears. This time, Ana was so visibly alarmed by his ignorance that she had to cover her face in misery. "Oh my gosh, I can't even deal with this right now. You don't understand."

Feeding off of her alarm, Al became upset as well. He tugged on the sleeve of her jacket and spoke swiftly, "What is it? I can understand! Please tell me! Please?!"

She peeked at him. Seeing his face, she sighed and patted him on the head. "Jesus child, you're gonna be the death of me."

"What's a Jesus?"

"I am done with life."

So Ana told him the action-packed life of ninjas, how skilled at fighting they were, their cool abilities and superior stealth and how all the best ones lived in a village called Konoha. Al listened with rapt attention, soaking up the tales she spun and asking giddily about ninja adventures, which she was more than happy to indulge. By the time the sun had set, Al had nearly forgotten his original purpose due to the wonderful distraction.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Al exclaimed. He looked up to Ana, who wore an interested expression. "Do you want to come over for supper tonight? Mom told me to invite you and it'd be fun if you came!"

For some reason, Ana's face blanked out as she became rigidly still. Staring at him, her eyes looked so…empty inside. It made him suddenly hesitant.

"A-Ana?" Al tried to get her attention because, as weird as it sounded, it was like she didn't see him anymore, choosing to look through him instead as she saw…something else. When she didn't answer, Al became a bit scared. "What…what is it?"

Brown eyes blinked as Ana came back to herself. Noticing that her daze had frightened the child, Ana turned away to look at the water. The surface rippled in the light breeze, rendering the soft waves into shimmering crystals under the moonlight. Fragments of light danced on Ana's tan face but they were scarcely able to breach the shadows that lingered around her heart.

"I can't," she said at long last. Her voice was no more than a whisper, traveling on the weak wind.

Uncertainty gripped him and Alphonse asked, "Do…do you not want to?"

The fragments of light reached Ana's eyes. They looked infinitely sad. It was…strange to see his friend like this. She wore her confidence like a second skin. Now, seeing her sitting on the water's edge, knees pulled up to her chest and chin resting upon them, Al thought that she might start crying. "I do…I really do… But I can't."

"Why not?" he asked, wanting in some way to help her. He didn't know how. He felt lost. He wished his mom was there. She would know what to do.

"Same reason why I can't go home. It's…" Ana struggled for words until she ran a hand through her thick, unruly hair and sighed in surrender. "It's complicated. Don't worry about it."

It was too late. Al was worried.

Al fidgeted, his fingers moving together in a nervous manner. "Do you…live alone, Ana?"

She frowned and glanced at him, "Why?"

He wondered if that was a mistake asking. He tried to backtrack and explain, "Well, Mom said something when I was talking to her earlier. She got worried; she said you might live alone."

A brief twitch of the lips distracted Ana for a moment. "You talk about me?"

She didn't seem to mind, so Al nodded and attempted a shy smile. "Mom wants to meet you, but Brother keeps saying you're not real. You can prove it to him if you come over!"

Although he didn't know why, Ana flinched at that and turned away from him again. "Sorry, but I can't. You're the only one…" The rest of that thought went unfinished, puzzling Al further. Why was his friend being so confusing about this?

"I'm what? Why can't you? Do you not want to meet him?"

Ana shrugged noncommittally, "It's not that. Look, I know you're smart for your age, but I think this would go over your head. I'm not saying I can't because I don't want to. I really can't."

Alphonse pondered her words and came to the only solution that made sense. "Are you…not allowed to?"

"Sort of," she answered vaguely. It brought him back to his original question.

"You said you didn't live with your parents. Do you live with someone else? Did they say you can't?"

Her body became tense, or perhaps Al was only just noticing. Along with that, he noticed that Ana's hands were clawing into the grass. A sharp stab of guilt made him concerned that he had angered her; however, when she began talking, she sounded far from angry. If anything, she sounded as lost as he did, if not more.

In a low tone, she let out a strained whisper, "No, I don't live with anyone."

"So…you're alone?" His mother was right then.

Ana didn't outright confirm it. She sat in her thoughts. Al waited. And when she didn't say anything, he waited some more.

Finally she admitted, "I'm not as alone as I was before."

Alphonse didn't pressure her any more that night. Instinct told him what he couldn't decipher for himself, that if he pushed any further, he'd be breaking something that Ana desperately needed. He couldn't explain it, and perhaps if he was older, he would have been able to understand better. As it was, he let it go and left the invitation open for whenever she could.

And when he said he needed to get back home before it got too late, he hugged Ana because Mom always gave him a hug when he felt sad.

She neither said anything, nor returned the hug. She stayed seated by the river and watched Al leave with some unidentifiable emotion in her features that Al couldn't place. He just knew that it reminded him of the stray kittens that he and his brother couldn't resist to bring home sometimes because they had no one else to take them home.

Thanks for the lovely reviews, my furry friends! Even if I can't find the time to reply to them, I still appreciate them greatly. And I'm sorry, but after this chapter, updates are going to be slowing way down, since I only have one more part that I've written for this. I got stuck and couldn't figure out how I wanted to go with the next scene I need to write, ya know? Anyway, I at least want to get to where Ana reveals more about herself and this situation she's in. Any guesses? And any suggestions for scenes?