Disclaimer - I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or Bleach, they are the property of Hiromu Arakawa and Kubo Tite respectively

Chapter Five - Academy Bound

After spending a rather fitful night, anticipating what was to come when they began classes at the Shinigami Academy, Ed and Al awoke early and dressed in the blue and white Academy uniforms that Head Captain Ukitake had provided for them the previous day. The uniforms resembled those worn by the full-fledged Shinigami except that they weren't black.

"Well this is weird," Ed muttered as he gazed down at the baggy set of clothes that he now wore. "And it's not even my color."

"Well you could have had red," Al said with a smirk, rather enjoying the uncomfortable expression on his older brother's face. "Ukitake-san told me that the uniforms come in red and blue however the color scheme is red for the girls and blue for the boys. But hey, you could probably ask him if he'd make an exception in your case."

"Oh shut up," Ed snapped, sending a glare in his brother's direction.

Unable to help himself Al began to laugh. The expression on his brother's face was just too priceless.

"You are so evil," Ed said, casting a reproachful gaze in the direction of his brother. "You didn't used to be this way. What exactly happened to you?"

"Uh you left," Al said, referring to the fact that his brother had sacrificed himself in order to bring him back and had therefore been trapped on the other side of the Gate. "Kinda had to learn to stick up for myself after that."

"You're right Al, I'm sorry," Ed said, hanging his head at the reminder of the time that he and his brother had been separated, each on a separate side of the Gate.

"It's okay," Al said, offering his brother a smile. "Don't be sad Nii-san, we should be happy. We're starting our careers as Shinigami today."

Ed nodded. "And I fully intend to excel at this just so I can have a rematch with that white haired brat and return the favor from yesterday."

Personally Al wasn't so sure that it was a realistic goal however he knew that nothing would dissuade his brother from his chosen path so he chose to say nothing. Wasting his breath wouldn't change anything and he learned a long time ago to not bother. Hopefully his brother would lose the desire to fight Captain Hitsugaya after awhile and embrace his new life as a Shinigami. Al shook his head. "I can hope."

"Come on," Ed said, walking toward the door of their small apartment. "We should probably leave now so that we don't run the risk of being late to class on our first day."

Al nodded. He was just as eager to learn as was his brother and could hardly wait to get started. None of his research in the library had revealed the source of his strange healing powers and the boy was eager to know. Surely someone at the Academy would be able to tell him about it.

About thirty minutes later it became painfully obvious to the two boys that they were lost inside the Seireitei. At the point where they passed by the same building with the same two Shinigami standing guard outside the two brothers paused to contemplate the situation. Al turned to his older brother and said, "I thought you knew where we were going Nii-san? Didn't Ukitake-san show you the way to the Academy yesterday?"

"He did," Ed said, looking slightly sheepish as he ran a hand through his golden blonde bangs. "I guess I took a wrong turn somewhere or something."

"Ugh," Al groaned, rolling his eyes in the direction of his older brother.

"Hey!" Ed snapped, his golden eyes snapping fire. "If you're so smart then next time you can lead the way."

"Fine," Al said. "Bet I could manage it without getting us lost. And now we're going to be late for class. This is just great."

"Calm down," Ed said as he gazed around his surroundings. "Be quiet for a minute so I can think."

Al glared at his brother but closed his mouth and waited. Ed continued to survey the area and then he turned back to his brother and shrugged. "You know, I really have no idea where we are."

"Nii-san!"

"Oi!" a new voice called out, interrupting Al before he had the chance to yell at his older brother for getting the two of them lost.

The Elric brothers turned toward the sound of the voice and watched as Captain Kurosaki walked toward them, a black-haired woman they didn't know walking at his side.

"What are you guys doing?" Kurosaki asked, one of his eyebrows upraised as he gazed at the two boys.

"We were trying to go to class," Ed replied, gazing at the orange-haired captain. "But. . ."

Al broke in at this point. "But Nii-san got us lost and now we have no idea where we are or how to get to the Academy from here."

The black-haired woman smiled. "We can help you out with that. I know exactly how to get to the Academy from here."

"Thank you um. . ." Al paused as he realized that he didn't know the woman's name. The young boy blushed, slightly embarrassed.

"Oops," Kurosaki said with a grin. "Ed and Al this is my vice-captain and fiancée Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia this is Ed and Al Elric, the two boys from the Rukongai that I told you about."

"Oh," Rukia said, a look of understanding appearing in her violet eyes. "Captain Hitsugaya's new friends."

Kurosaki smirked as a scowl appeared on Ed's face at the mention of the Squad Ten Captain.

"Nice to meet you Kuchiki-san," Al said politely, offering Rukia a smile.

"You too," Rukia said. "Now we should probably get you guys to the Academy before you're late for class."

Both Ed and Al nodded and as Rukia and Kurosaki began walking the two boys fell into step behind them. The group walked in silence for a little while and then Al spoke, breaking the silence. "Um Kurosaki-san, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Kurosaki said.

"What's the Academy like?" Al asked, curiosity and a slight note of apprehension in his voice.

"Um," Kurosaki said, running a hand through his orange hair and further messing it up. "I never actually went to the Academy so I can't really answer that question."

Ed's eyes widened as he heard those words. "You're a captain and you never went to the Academy? How'd you pull that one off, you some kind of genius or something?"

"Far from it," Kurosaki replied, thinking back on everything that he'd endured since becoming a Shinigami. "All of my training was hands on. On the job training if you will."

"Hey maybe we could. . ."

Kurosaki held up his hand, halting the boy's idea before it had time to fully form. "I wouldn't recommend it. That's not the best way to do things by any means. Besides I never did learn kidou."

"You can't use kidou?" Al asked.

Kurosaki shook his head. "Not even the most basic moves." The Squad Five Captain gestured toward Ed. "Hell he's only been in Soul Society for a few days and he can already perform more kidou than I can."

Rukia let out an exasperated sigh at this point in the conversation and glared over at Kurosaki. "I keep telling you that you should at least learn the basics of kidou. I'm sure if you spoke to him about it then Head Captain Ukitake would let you attend some kidou classes at the Academy."

"Like hell I will!" Kurosaki exclaimed, thinking about how much grief the others would give him if he attended classes at the Academy. There was just no way in hell that he would willingly put himself through something like that. Especially not to learn kidou that he wouldn't use even if he knew how.

"But you're a captain," Ed spoke up, a confused expression in his golden eyes. "Don't you want to learn everything that you possibly can?"

"Not really," Kurosaki replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's not like I really wanted to be a captain or anything. It was kinda forced on me."

The group lapsed into silence at this point as the two Elrics contemplated the fact that there was actually a Captain class Shinigami who couldn't perform kidou. "Weird," Ed thought to himself, shaking his head. This world that they found themselves in was definitely different than the world from which they came.

"We're here," Rukia announced, breaking into Ed's thoughts on how weird Soul Society was. The golden-haired boy looked up and saw that there were countless people milling about in a large courtyard. They were all dressed similarly to him and Al, the boys wearing blue and white while the girls were dressed in red and white.

"And you're not even late," Rukia said, sounding slightly pleased with herself.

Al turned and bowed to the two Squad Five officers. "Thank you so much for the help."

"You're welcome," Rukia said with a smile. "Good look on your first day."

"Yea," Kurosaki added. "And try not to blow anything up."

And with those final words Kurosaki and Rukia departed, leaving the Elrics alone to face their first day as students of the Shinigami Academy. However as they departed Kurosaki could be heard to mutter, "How do you suppose they got all the way over there? It's like they took directions from Yachiru or something."

"Well come on Al," Ed said as he began walking toward the huge building that was situated across the courtyard.

Al nodded and fell into step beside his brother. Once inside the brothers were directed to join the other first year students and once they were all assembled the group was divided up into two separate classes, the regular and the advanced class.

A somewhat smug expression appeared on Ed's face as he and Al were assigned to the advanced class. "See Al, I knew we were special."

Al didn't look anywhere near as confident as his older brother but nodded all the same.

Ed and Al spent their morning sitting in class, listening to the teacher drone on and on about various topics, none of which really held the elder brother's interest. "I've already read about all of this," Ed thought to himself in annoyance as he fought to keep his attention on the teacher.

The golden-haired boy glanced over to the spot where his brother was sitting and he saw that Al had a rapt expression on his face. Apparently his younger brother was having an easier time paying attention to the mindless lecture.

Ed sighed. "I could handle this a lot better if he'd just talk about something new. Maybe doing all of that research wasn't such a hot idea after all."

Much to Ed's delight the second half of the day was dedicated to practical skills, where the students actually got to try out the moves that they learned in class. "Finally," Ed thought to himself as he followed his fellow students out to the training grounds. A row of targets had been set up at the far end of the field and an evil glint appeared in Ed's golden eyes as his gaze fell upon them.

"This is going to be so easy," Ed thought to himself as the students all lined up to face the targets.

"Alright everyone," the instructor called out, gaining the group's attention. "One at a time I want you to demonstrate kidou." He nodded his head in the direction of the first student in line. "Begin."

As he watched his classmates use Red Flame Cannon Ed debated what he should do when his turn came up. The instructor hadn't said anything about which kidou they were to use and although it was true that Red Flame Cannon was the only kidou attack that he'd actually managed to pull off but it wasn't the only one that he'd learned.

Ed was startled from his thoughts as the instructor called out to him and as he stepped up to the line to take his turn the boy made his decision. "I'm going to try something different," he thought to himself as he stepped up to the line. "Red Flame Cannon just reminds me too much of Mustang."

Al watched as his brother held out his hands and his eyes widened as he listened to the spirit chant that his brother was muttering. This one was different from what the others had used and he was vaguely curious about what he brother was doing.

"What is he doing?" Al thought to himself, his eyes locked onto the form of his older brother.

"Pale Fire Crash!"

A burst of energy resembling a bolt of lightening shot from Ed's hands and Al watched as the target in front of his brother exploded into a million pieces. "Wow, I can't believe he actually pulled that off."

"Excellent Elric-kun," the instructor said, nodding his head in approval.

Ed nodded in the teacher's direction, a smug expression on his face. He was finally beginning to get the hang of this kidou stuff. "Maybe things will start to get more interesting from here on out," the boy thought as he rejoined the others and watched the next student approach the line.

A/N- and thus ends chapter five. Sorry it took so long for the update, hope you enjoyed this chapter. There's a pole on my profile about this story if you'd care to share your input. Your opinion matters. Feel free to review and tell me what you thought about this chapter. Til next time this is Hitsu-taichou signing out.