Kamaitachi Chronicles

Note: I've been plotting my FMA fanfiction for a long time. But when G. C. Reed (who needs to start posting stuff so I can bug her about it… XD) started working on her story, I figured I'd better get to work on mine, too. So, I revamped my first chapter and eventually decided it'd be nice to post. Sure, I have other fics to work on, but I'm working off inspiration, G. C.'s writing patterns (I've decided to write something when she does, so the harder she works, the harder I work), and requests via poll (If you want me to update this, vote for it), so here we go. I now present to you the first chapter of the Kamaitachi Chronicles!

Disclaimer: Ivy Matrons, her story, and the concept for her alchemy are mine. The rest of the Fullmetal Alchemist universe belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.

Humankind cannot gain anything without giving something in return. In order to obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.

If that's true, exactly how much did I give up to deserve him?

One

I opened up the hood of the tractor that the farmer had pointed me to and surveyed the damage. The problem wasn't too bad—just a cracked gear—but it was in such as position as to be considered a pain by most mechanics. But I wasn't most mechanics. Hell, I wasn't even a mechanic.

I was an alchemist.

I closed the hood and pulled a worn down piece of chalk from my pocket before starting to draw on it. My intention was to have a transmutation circle as so I could perform alchemy. Alchemy was a combination of art and science in which someone understood, deconstructed, and reconstructed the structure of a material. Sure, there were other rules, but the potential possibilities were almost endless.

With my circle done, I returned the chalk to its place. Closing my eyes, I inhaled, clapped my hands together, and slammed them onto the metal surface. The result was a low tong sound that was almost drowned out by the sparking noise coming from the transmutation. I opened my eyes just in time to see the accompanying flashes of light fade away.

Raising the hood again, I found everything in perfect condition. Mechanical alchemy wasn't the most exciting profession an alchemist could get, mainly since more people leaned toward the scientist end of the spectrum. Though the nature of experiments varied, alchemy could be used in almost anything to further along tests and such. For me, a sixteen-year-old girl with no home or parents, I was more than willing to use alchemy in assorted odd-jobs with the end result of money for the many means of survival.

That was life before he found me.

"Alchemy," a voice behind me whispered, causing my instincts to react and my body to stiffen. The voice that had spoken was not the one of the farmer who had employed me to fix the tractor. It was in a different tone and far too smooth to be the same person. I whirled around, mentally calculating how to defend myself if the person was unfriendly. Living on my own and traveling had given me a few aces up my sleeves.

Though I had been ready for almost anything, there was no way you could have made me suspect this. The uniform of the Amestrian military wasn't something I was completely familiar with, but I was at least able to recognize it on sight, the key give-away being the questionably dark blue material it was comprised of. The man wearing said uniform had short black hair that stopped over his just as dark eyes. He had a self-satisfied smile on his face, like he had just discovered something incredible. Sure, a teenage girl out in some rural eastern town performing practiced alchemy on a tractor was odd—but incredible? Please.

I realized two things at once. One: This man was good-looking; and two: I was staring. I pulled my eyes away from his face and found myself refocusing on the lapel on his chest. Whoever the hell this guy was, he was a ranking officer.

So what the hell is he doing out here?

"Do you want something?" I asked, my voice touching on the edges of a growl. I had things to do, and if he was just planning on standing there all day, he had another thing coming. Over the years, my personality had begun to develop in such a way that I got easily pissed off by certain people. Seemed he was one of them.

"I'm not sure yet," the officer mused, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a glove, which he proceeded to put on. "Let's find out."

I had been expecting him to give a more half-assed excuse instead of take action, which was admittedly a mistake on my part. He snapped his fingers, and I blinked as the resultant jet of flame headed straight towards me. I turned in a half circle on one foot before pushing off, using the extra force from the spin to assist in my dodge. The flame shot past my face and simply dissipated into the air a few feet away from the tractor. The man smiled and raised his hand to snap again…

And I saw it.

I dodged his second assault, the logical gears of my brain turning. He had a fucking transmutation circle on his glove, which allowed me to make sense of his attack. Of course, the situation was still bad. I was under fire (pun definitely not intended…) from a ranked officer who just had to also be a State Alchemist. Wonderful.

Then again, I could even the playing field. Reaching into my left pocket, I pulled out the palm-sized metal capsule that resided there. Without hesitation, I flicked it into the air, recapturing it in my right hand and activating the transmutation circle etched into its surface. The result was a four-foot long tri-bladed scythe. The flames were his alchemy. This was mine.

Dodging once again, I charged, the blades on my weapon glinting in the afternoon sun. My opponent attempted to dodge the swing, gloved hand coming up once again, but I was too fast for him.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I snarled, the lowest of the blades happily hovering at the back of his neck.

"Now, now, put the scythe down," he said, voice soothing and persuasive. He probably could have gotten me to do it, too, had I not been so completely pissed off.

"Not a chance. You talk first. And for the record, take off that damn glove."

He let out a low chuckle, trying my patience even further. The first consideration I had was the mental imagery of the decapitation that could so easily occur. "So you figured it out after two attacks, huh?" he commented, complying with my demand. I surprisingly noted his lack of resistance.

But, yes, of course I had figured it out. It was a slightly advanced version of your basic alchemic theory. He snapped, the gloved sparked, the transmutation circle adjusted the oxygen levels in the air, and there's the flame.

"That's impressive. Really. Here you go." He held out the glove to me, and I snatched it away, stowing it in my own pocket. "Am I allowed to move now?" he asked.

"Sure, sure, if you feel like having three blades of finely tuned steel make their way through the oh-so delicate flesh concentration that is your neck." I was allowed to flaunt my sarcastic and slightly morbid nature. After all, I was running this game, not him. Right?

"It seems you have wit, too."

"Trust me, buddy. Just because you're complimenting me, doesn't guarantee me not accidentally spilling your blood. Please answer the fucking question." Damn, this man was flat out infuriating.

"Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang, nice to meet you," he introduced with a smile worthy of a politician about to win some election (I know Amestris wasn't a democracy back then, but the analogy is quite understandable anyhow). "Nice to meet you"? This man's life was in danger, and he was wasting time on pleasantries. I decided he wasn't mentally stable.

"Is there a particular reason you chose to attack me? By the way, this better be good," I threatened, bringing the blade closer to his skin. I saw him partially flinch and smiled in satisfaction. Check.

"You're an alchemist," he started, the obviousness making me internally sigh. "I had this feeling you were more skilled than most. It seems I was right." His eyes flicked to the scythe's handle, and I almost expected him to incline his head back towards it, too. Then again, that was only because I gave him too little credit… and I would have enjoyed watching him screw up. "With your level of skill, you could do so much more. What are you doing just handling simple repairs?"

It vaguely crossed my thoughts that he was crossing my biggest line, that he was prying into my past where no one was ever allowed, and that was reason enough for me to do away with him right there. However, the brain has this bad habit where it says things before the mouth has a chance to stop it. Thus was my case at the moment.

"I have to support myself. We don't all have cushy government jobs like you, Lt. Colonel." I nearly spat his title. My calm was quickly abandoning me. "Besides, how could you understand? You're just a dog of the goddamn military. Alchemists are supposed to work for the people, and I intend to follow that, unlike you, even if it means I have to scramble everyday for a roof over my head at night."

I was actually surprised that I hadn't hurt him in the slightest. I had worked hard to keep myself alive all these years, and I had done it in a way that served the people. That was my Equivalent Exchange. And he was everything I hated, an asshole of a man that wasn't even a proper alchemist. He was a person that had just given himself up into the ranks, and was taking advantage of his position for himself. In my eyes, he deserved to die.

"We're not all dogs," Mustang muttered, breaking me out of my thoughts. I scoffed and tightened my grip on my weapon.

"Yeah, I bet. That especially applies to you, doesn't it? Or even better, you're the only exception."

"I'm definitely not the only one. But I'm not a dog, either. I just so happen to play the part. That's the only real way to get by in this world."

He had to be kidding. There was no way a man like him could ever possibly "play the part". He was just far too opinionated and sarcastic to ever get away with that. There was no way a man like him could seriously swallow his pride and become completely loyal to this country while still working towards some other goal in the background.

Could he?

"I'm actually impressed by your amount of skill," Mustang commented, making a "huh?" escape from my mouth. I really needed to stop getting deep thought around this man. It was dangerous. "Your weapon is extremely fine-tuned, too. Judging by the design, I'm assuming you designed it yourself. Just how old are you?" He finished with the same friendly smile. I frowned.

I still had no idea as to what he was getting at, and it was really pissing me off. I took a few moments to regain my composure. "Don't you know you're not supposed to ask a woman her age? Besides, didn't we already have the discussion on compliments?" There, I felt more in control for the moment.

"Have you ever considered becoming a State Alchemist?" To answer, no, I hadn't. But that still didn't change the fact that I was even more lost than before.

"Let me get this straight. You see me perform alchemy, you attack me based on a feeling, and then you ask me if I want to become a Dog. Do you recruit all of your potential victims this way, or am I just special?" He smirked, and I almost wanted to punch him, forget the scythe and all the horrific things I could do with it. Eh, that could come after he stopped that look.

"Oh, trust me; you're special."

As a note, you can only be so far away from someone while holding a scythe to the back of their neck. Consequently, there were only a few inches between where he was looking down at me and I was looking up at him.

What in the world am I doing?

"Ivy?"

I was confused for a moment, and then it hit me: I had given him my name. I winced and mentally cursed my own stupidity.

"Do not call me by my first name!" I snapped, reluctantly removing my weapon from the vicinity of his neck. Turning away to hide the light blush now on my face, I tossed my scythe towards my left hand, transmuting it back into capsule form. When I put it back into my pocket, my fingers brushed up against the glove I had taken from him.

"Alright, then, Matrons," he retried, putting unnecessary emphasis on my surname. "What do you think?"

What did I think? What did I think? Oh, he really didn't want to know what I thought. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep all the profanities from spilling out. When I was sure that opening my mouth wouldn't make me cuss uncontrollably, I took a few deep breaths, letting each one out as slowly as possible. Finally calmed, I turned to face him.

"I was thinking, Lt. Colonel, that I wasn't aware that they were letting sixteen-year-old girls apply for military positions." I had stopped caring about how much he knew about me. After all, the application process for becoming a State Alchemist surely was going to involve a background check, and I could very easily imagine him sticking his nose into it all in "professional interest." I liked the option of me telling him so I could keep tabs on what he knew a lot better.

"They do if one has enough talent. And I'm pretty sure your new connections will make it simpler, don't you? Besides, I seriously doubt they would pass up having someone with your skill set on their side."

I knew he was serious. Our country was a very militant one, and I had no doubt if war broke out I could be sent to the frontlines. There was no excitement in the fact that I was trying to become a Dog, but I could find some way to accept it. There had to be something I could do that would count as working for the people…

Decision made, I turned around and started walking.

"Hey, Matrons, where are you going?" Mustang asked as I walked right past him. I chuckled.

"The train station's this way, Lt. Colonel," I pointed out. "Unless… You were planning on walking to Central?"

In my mind, his face lost its casual expression, taking on a more disgruntled one. I resisted the urge to chuckle again. "Right… But what about my glove? If something—"

"Whatever happens, I've already proven that I can handle it faster than you. Besides…" I stopped walking for a moment to flash a smile over my shoulder. "You have a second glove, don't you?"

He blinked once and then smiled. I continued walking as the sounds of his footsteps and light laughter followed.

"You're a miracle, Matrons, an absolute miracle."