Disclaimer - I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or Bleach and I definitely am not making any money from this. Just having a little fun.

Chapter Fourteen - Lessons Resume, Lessons Begin

Alchemy lessons traded for sword fighting lessons.

Ed had received permission from his captain for the lessons, although he had omited the part about teaching Hitsugaya alchemy, and he made his way toward the Squad Ten barracks while the air still held the chill of the early morning. Hitsugaya had said first thing in the morning and Ed had taken him at his word.

Ed still wasn't certain that he had made the right choice however he was still determined to defeat Tomori in battle and wipe the floor with his smug face and he realized that the only way he could accomplish this was with Hitsugaya's help. That thought irritated him beyond words however he was willing to deal with the irritation in order to reach his goal.

When the young Shinigami arrived at the Squad Ten barracks he quickly made his way to the office where his former arch rival resided. Upon reaching the door Ed took a deep breath before knocking politely on the door and stepping back.

"Enter," a voice called out from within.

Still completely unable to believe the fact that he was actually planning on going through with this beyond scary plan, Ed slid the door open and stepped inside the Squad Ten office. Captain Hitsugaya was once again seated at his desk, completely surrounded by paperwork, and Ed found himself wondering if the kid had ever even left the office.

He seemed to be a permanent resident from what Ed could tell.

"So you actually came," Hitsugaya said with a smirk as his gaze focused on the blond haired Shinigami. To be completely honest he was somewhat surprised that Edward was actually going to go through with the plan to resume his training and he found that a small part of himself, a very small and almost microscopic part, was actually impressed with the boy's resolve.

"Of course I came," Ed said, fighting hard to keep the scathing tone out of his voice. Of course he failed miserably however Hitsugaya chose to overlook the undesirable tone. He would have plenty of time to beat it out of the taller boy, providing that Ed didn't once again quit.

"So are you ready to begin?" the white haired captain asked, an intense expression in his teal eyse.

Ed nodded, his hand automatically going to the hilt of his zanpaktou. He was determined to learn how to fully control his stubborn zanpaktou and then he would show that bastard Tomori what he was truly capable of. And if he wasn't so damn determined to keep it a secret from everyone in the Seireitei he would have already used alchemy to wipe that smug expression from the man's face.

Unfortunately he wasn't certain how his alchemy skills would be viewed and was loathe to show them to anyone before he had mastered the differences in the alchemy from this world. He had second thoughts about teaching it to Hitsugaya but he had already offered and he would not go back on his word.

He had offered to trade alchemy lessons for sword fighting lessons and he would honor this arrangement.

But he couldn't help secretly hoping that the obnoxious white haired captain wasn't capable of performing alchemy. That would serve to wipe away some of the smugness that he always exuded. Hitsugaya had walked over to him by this point and Ed forced his mind away from such thoughts.

He knew that he should be grateful that Hitsugaya had agreed to resume the lessons but he just couldn't bring himself to have any good thoughts about the kid. And this fact didn't change when the two of them arrived at the Squad Ten training grounds and the lesson began.

Ed should have been used to being knocked around at this point and yet he still felt his temper rising. And the situation wasn't aided by the scathing remarks offered to him by both his teacher and his zanpaktou. Hikari no Shinjitsu seemed bound and determined to make him lose the already shaky grasp that he had on his sanity and Ed was not amused by the constant snide remarks that were offered to him by his supposed partner.

"Why the hell are you so annoying?" he growled as he blocked a particularly fierce blow from Captain Hitsugaya's zanpaktou Hyourinmaru. He was still irritated over the fact that his zanpaktou absolutely refused to cooperate with him and only relented under actual battle circumstances when it sensed that it's master was in eminent danger of dying. Aparently knowing that Hitsugaya was going to knock him around but not kill him simply wasn't enough to gain the sword's cooperation. It was annoying and made Ed angry. . . angrier. "You don't see Hitsugaya over there having an argument with his sword in the middle of a battle."

Hitsugaya heard the comment, of course, since Ed wasn't known for his volume control. A smile spread across his face and he briefly wondered if he should share a couple of the stories of his first encounters with the spirit of his zanpaktou. A second glance to the blond Shinigami answered the question for him.

No.

He would figure things out on his own eventually and for now this was simply too much fun to watch.

"I'm the embodiment of your heart and soul," the sword countered calmly, his voice echoing through Ed's mind. "Have you ever thought that perhaps I'm this way because you yourself are lacking in the manners department? No, of course you didn't think about this."

The grip that Ed had on the hilt of his sword tightened and Hitsugaya found that he could actually see a vein bulging in the boy's forehead. With a sigh he lowered his sword. "I think that we should call it quits for today."

"Why?" Ed demanded, focusing his gaze on his opponent for the first time in several minutes.

"Well for one because you're distracted," Hitsugaya said, gazing at the boy through narrowed eyes. "I could have killed you any number of times had this been an actual battle. And for another, you're fighting with your partner and therefore you're definately not going to gain his cooperation any time soon."

Ed's first impulse was to shout at the kid but in the end he knew that the infuriating young captain was right. The goal of these lessons was for him to learn to work in harmony with his zanpaktou and the fact was that this was simply not going to happen today. "Fine," he said with a sigh.

The blond Shinigami gestured toward a tall tree that was situated at the edge of the training grounds. "That looks like a nice, shady spot to begin our alchemy lessons."

Hitsugaya nodded and together the two boys settled themselves on the soft grass underneath the shade of the tree's leaves. Ed quickly ran through a history of alchemy, memorized long ago, and he could see the light in Hitsugaya's eyes that meant that the boy was hanging on his every word.

This gave Ed an odd sensation. He was actually teaching something to the so called child prodigy. Hughes had informed Ed about the past of the young prodigy and Ed upon hearing about the difficulties that the kid had faced Ed had felt a grudging respect for the young captain grow. Hitsugaya had faced some of the same hardships that he himself had faced when joining the military and yet despite that had managed to reach the rank of captain in record time.

A small part of Ed knew that the kid deserved to be somewhat cocky.

"Okay," he said in a quiet voice once he'd completed the abbreviated history lesson. Grabbing a nearby stick he began to sketch a simple array in the dirt in front of him. Hitsugaya watched Ed's every move and, once Ed had completed the array, he took the stick and, almost eagerly copied the array.

"Good," Ed said as he explained a little more about the science part of the alchemy. He had to make sure that Hitsugaya knew about Equivalent Exchange and that you had to have equal mass and a similar physical makeup in order to make the transmutation work.

"So," Ed said as he pulled a sheet of paper from the fold of his shihakusho. "Once you understand the physical makeup of your object then you can transmute it into something else."

And, even though he was perfectly capable of performing the transmutation without the use of the array, Ed placed the piece of paper in the center of the circle. Then he placed the tips of his fingers on the edge of the array.

Hitsugaya watched as blue sparks erupted around the piece of paper. With a bang it was enveloped in smoke but when the smoke cleared Hitsugaya's eyes widened in surprise. The piece of paper had been transformed into an elegantly constructed paper crane.

"Okay," Ed said, pulling out yet another piece of paper. "Now it's your turn."

With a nod of his head Hitsugaya accepted the piece of paper that Ed offered him and placed it in the center of his own array. His mind quickly thought back to everything that Ed had told him about alchemy and how to make it work. The young captain took a deep breath, hoping that his 'teacher' didn't notice the nervous action, and then placed the tips of his fingers at the edge of the transmutation circle.

It was Ed's turn to watch as sparks erupted around the paper, followed by the familiar bang and puff of smoke. He gazed on in curiosity and, when the smoke finally cleared, it was to reveal yet another paper crane. This one was somewhat less elegant but still impressive for the boy's first attempt.

For his part Hitsugaya looked somewhat disappointed as he picked up the paper crane.

"Don't worry about it," Ed said. "It's actually really good for a first attempt."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened as he heard the words that were meant to be an encouragement. This was somewhat strange, since he and Ed had been at each other's throats since the day they met, and he couldn't help but stare for a moment. But then the shock wore off and he forced his expression back into the stoic one that he wore so often.

"I have a great deal of paperwork to complete," he said, hoping that Ed hadn't noticed the shocked look. "So shall we resume this next week?"

"Alright," Ed said with a nod. "Same day, same time?"

Hitsugaya nodded and the two boys got to their feet and made their way back to their respective squads. Overall the lessons had both gone fairly well and both boys were actually looking forward to the next one. Hell, maybe they could get over their dislike of one another yet.

A/N - I apologize for the long wait for this update but I have a lot of projects on going and I'm trying to keep them all from going months without an update. Plus I've been in D Gray Man mode since watching the anime. My insanity knows no limits. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review and tell me what you thought. The Musician