Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any of the characters. They belong to Arakawa-Senpai~ I only own my OC's, my made up towns/cities/countries/other misc characters and this fanfiction.

Author's Note: I welcome CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, so please review somewhat kindly. Also feel free to PM me for any questions/queries about this story, or even just to say hello :3

Chapter: Hazel Beauty

Summary: 'How is it that I've never met this girl before?!'

Alphonse reached into his pocket and pulled out the small brown glass bottle and placed it gingerly on the bar before Roy. He raised a curious brow when Roy lifted the bottle and took a small sniff at its contents. Roy paused for a moment and peered at Alphonse before swirling the liquid around in the bottle before his obsidian eyes.

"You say a woman you bumped into just forced this into your hands before you had a chance to compose yourself fully?" Roy asked with a questioning raised eyebrow.

Alphonse's brow furrowed slightly and nodded. "Yeah. It was really bizarre. I would've called out to her but she was so quick to get away, I had no idea which direction she left."

Roy smirked and placed the bottle back on the table. With an index finger, he lightly tapped the cork lid and let out a soft chuckle, which made Alphonse all the more confused at his response.

"Do you realize just exactly what you were handed Al?"

Alphonse gave him an exasperated look. 'I wouldn't be asking if I knew what it was, Mustang!'

Of course Alphonse had occasional snide comments just like any normal person would; he just was more polite in keeping them to himself, unlike his brother.

Roy knew the young lad well enough to know what he was thinking though and chuckled softly. "This is a sampler bottle of an extremely rare foreign whiskey." Roy muttered with amusement.

"Foreign whiskey? Where's it from?" His curiosity peaked.

"The large island country North-West of Drachma; Iraylia. There's only one place in Amestris that brews and supplies Iraylian beverages like this one, quite nice stuff actually if you're willing to pay the large price for it to be delivered to your door. Nonetheless, don't be wasteful of it. This bottle alone would probably be enough to knock you out cold within the hour if you've not drunk something like this before." Roy slides the bottle back over to him.

"Iraylia. That's interesting." Alphonse muttered absentmindedly as he tucked the bottle back into his pocket, safe alongside the necklace that had remained hidden from Roy.

"Indeed. Somewhat ironic and coincidental actually, considering one of the applicants this year is Iraylian." Roy lifted his glass of bourbon and ice to his lips.

"Really? You've been over them already?" Alphonse was somewhat surprised, considering Roy more or less hated anything that involved any form of paperwork, even if it was just reading over them. The only form of paper that the man seemed to have little trouble in holding in his hands was the damn newspaper.

Roy shrugged nonchalantly and slid a small stack of papers towards Alphonse. "I only briefly skimmed a few, didn't really pay it much attention."

No surprises there. Alphonse rolled his eyes lightly and snorted with amusement.

He took the papers and slowly began reading over each one, though not giving them much thought. None of them really stood out to him as far as he was concerned. After reading through three, he began simply skimming over brief details of each one then tossing them aside to a neat pile, reading out there names and races in a very bored and exasperated tone to no one in particular.

"John Stafford, Amestrian… Riley Connors, Amestrian… Samuel Ford, Amestrian…-" He halted abruptly at the next one he picked up. Utterly shocked for many reasons as he skimmed over the profile.

Roy caught on to this and leaned over to see what had gotten the younger Elric's attention so suddenly. He let out a quiet chuckle when he realized what it might have been.

"Ah, so a young lady is taking the exam this year. This'll certainly be much more interesting then."

Alphonse had ignored Roy's comment for a moment before he responded, somewhat confused when the comment registered in his head. "Isn't there usually a mixture of genders?"

"In the Military, yes. There is a vast mixture. But as far as State Alchemist go, there has only been four women to ever get granted the title since the exams were first established, so it is a bit of a surprise, and rare I guess you could say."

"What's more surprising is that this woman is the Iraylian." Alphonse stated quietly as he reread that her race was Amestrian/Iraylian. Now that he thought about it, he never saw any woman taking the exam the year he had gained his State Alchemist license.

"She's a rarity alright." Roy mused as he looked down into the golden brown liquid in his glass, swirling it slowly in his hand before knocking it back.

Alphonse struggled to sleep that night, due to the humidity making his skin hot and clammy as he lay upon the sheets in nothing but his grey boxers. A light sheen of sweat shone somewhat on his exposed torso in the moonlight that billowed into his room and cascaded over him. Another reason he couldn't sleep was that he couldn't get this mysterious woman he had bumped into out of his mind. He had a biting tinge of guilt for knocking her over, and felt unsettled that he couldn't apologize. Always the gentleman; he held this morale. But the thing that was fraying his mind the most was the silver necklace he had recovered after the fall. When he got home after leaving the bar that night, he had transmuted it to repair the broken link and added a touch more metal to make it a little stronger than it had been originally to prevent it breaking again.

He lay on his back sprawled widely out over the sheets, gently twiddling and caressing the charm between his fingers above his face, rereading the small inscription engraved on the back of it.

'May your arrows always find their target. I.C'

Alphonse had no idea what it was supposed to mean, but the initials had given him an answer to one of his queries, which then only created more. He continued to ponder over it until he exhausted himself, finally beginning to feel the sleep crawling to him and closed his heavy eyes to slip deeply into the darkness, the silver necklace gently cradled within the palm of his hand as he slept.

The following morning, Alphonse practically leapt out of bed, feeling surprisingly energized considering the lack of sleep he had. He was excited for the exams today, the last time he attended the exams was when he was applying for his own State certification. Today he would have a different vantage of it all. He showered, had breakfast and dressed, slipping the silver charm necklace into the breast pocket of his shirt then left for Headquarters.

Alphonse arrived just as Mustang did, and the pair headed straight for the room today's exam was being held in. The vast, grey polished marble room that had little furniture was cool, compared to the humid air outside that morning. There was a long oak desk at the end of the room with five chairs. Seated in two was a middle aged Brigadier General State Alchemist and an older non-alchemist General.

Roy and Alphonse walked over to take their seats on the opposite side of the middle chair, with Alphonse on the far end. Roy began conversing with the other two soldiers while Alphonse was happy to remain quiet, only responding to the odd question or two. The door opening got all four men saluting and at attention as Fuhrer Grumman and two of his assistants walked in, muttering and chuckling for them to be 'at ease', to take their seats and relax. The assistants stood either side of the door.

"Looks like my work has lightened slightly for now, so I can attend all exams today and hopefully tomorrow." Grumman spoke in a chirpy tone. He reached for the pile of applicant papers Roy had passed to him and began sifting through them.

A small 'oooh' and a cheeky chuckle drew from his lips when he stopped on one paper in particular, which both Alphonse and Roy assumed was the young woman's. Grumman held the pile of papers out for one of his assistants to take and requested for them to start sending the applicants in one by one.

As each interview past, time seemed to be getting slower and slower. Usually Alphonse was quite attentive, but today felt like it was dragging on. He chalked up the reason to be because he was tired, even though it truly wasn't the reason. He didn't think the interviews would be so… boring. Alphonse's train of thought began going back to the charm and the faceless woman; the need to call Izumi and question her over it growing desperately. That is until the last applicant to be interviewed walked into the room.

The young Iraylian woman walked into the room and stopped in the center before the Fuhrer and the four men. Her shoulders rose, and then slacked slowly as she appeared to be calming her nerves with a deep breathe. Her bright, round hazel eyes snapped open and looked up before her, her expression calm and serine, but also serious and focused.

The room fell into a deep silence, and to Alphonse, everything felt as if it might stop completely as he took in her appearance. He had seen a lot of pretty girls before, and was never shy about expressing it so, but this young lady that stood before them made his breathe hitch in his throat. Her long burgundy brown hair cascaded down to the small of her back like a long waterfall of silken locks, with her front bangs hanging loosely over her brows. Her creamy, yet pale complexion was evenly tanned from the sun, which complemented her eyes. Those eyes were like Hughes' eyes, hazel; but unlike anything he's ever seen before. There was almost no way to describe them; almost wishing he could look deeper into the mixture of sapphire, emerald and gold within them. Below the corner of her right eye was the sweetest little beauty mark, giving of an alluring appearance to her rounded eyes. She appeared classy, yet simple in the way she dressed; wearing a simple knee length A-line chocolate brown skirt and a light butter-yellow blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. A small, brown leather belt separating the two garments at her waist expressed how generously curvy she was in the right places.

Simplicity at its finest.

Alphonse was abruptly knocked out of his stupor and brought back into the now when he felt Roy reach over and close his slightly agape jaw. His face flustered and he turned it away slightly, leaving Roy to chuckle inwardly at his expense. Alphonse dared a glance at the woman to make sure she hadn't caught him staring, but she seemed to have her attention directed at Grumman for the moment. He cleared his throat as he slowly regained his equilibrium.

"Sorry to have to have made you wait so long Miss Fox." The other General muttered.

"No trouble at'all, Sir." She replied earnestly with a nod of her head.

'As I suspected, it's the woman I bumped into!' Alphonse was nearly knocked off his chair at the sheer force of his realization as he had all the proof he needed from hearing her voice again. He stared wide eyed at Miss Fox, struggling to contain the surge of excitement that blossomed within his chest. 'So it was her… She knows Teacher!'

The interview proceeded with the same questions, which was more or less reviewing her personal details and getting an insight to her personality, seeing if she would be right, psychologically, to be a State Alchemist.

Alphonse found himself hanging from her every word, the sing-song ring in her voice was enthralling, having his own little thoughts and responses about each of her answers.

"You're full name and date of birth please Miss?" The older General on the opposite side of Grumman would be asking the questions this time around.

"Juniper Joselyn Fox. My date of birth is October 11th, 1900." She responded confidently, as were all her answers.

'Even her name is pretty; unusual, but pretty. Juniper…' Alphonse repeated it in his head over and over.

"If I may ask without offending you Miss Fox, you're an Amestrian citizen and were born in this country, yet your accent is very much different. Though we suspect how, would you please enlighten us here on how this is so?"

She nods. "Yes Sir. My family had come to Amestris years before my mother fell pregnant with me. I was born in Thal, the small town in the South. My family and I returned to Iraylia when I was 2 months old due to… unfortunate family circumstances… and I was raised there. We returned in 1911, and have lived in Kadayr since."

'Kadayr; that's the near Dublith. Maybe that's how she knows Teacher.' Beside him, Alphonse didn't notice that Roy was finding his behavior surprisingly entertaining and comical, resisting the urge to laugh at the young Elric, who looked like a bewildered, love-struck puppy.

"How did you learn alchemy? Have you had any alchemy training?"

Again, she nodded. "I began expressing an interest in alchemy when we returned from Iraylia, at the age of 11. My Da allowed me to read alchemy books and I taught myself the basics, as well as a little more of what I could manage at the time. In 1918, I was pointed towards Izumi Curtis, an alchemist and housewife in Dublith." Juniper let a small soft smile of fondness grace her lips before continuing. "I was her apprentice until 1920, after which I studied more areas of alchemy and concluded with my own theories and practices to suit my styles of fighting and aiding those in need."

'How is it that I have never met this girl before?! I've visited Teacher within those years a few times, I'm sure I did!' He was completely baffled.

The interview continued for another 15 minutes, and everyone on the panel seemed pleased with her answers, even getting a little laugh from one of her fiery responses about 'Equivalent Exchange' and what she thought of the principle of it. To them, she appeared to be pretty even tempered and suitable for the position if her practical talent is as good as her results thus far.

Alphonse now knew who to return the necklace to, but just like Monday evening, she had evaded him before he could even blink. He groaned in frustration, knowing he would have to wait even longer to return the charm.

Later that night, his dreams were the usual insipid darkness. But within this darkness, emerged intelligent, glimmering, round hazel eyes that somehow seemed to lull him into a peaceful sleep.