ooooo
The sun is nearing the horizon when Gaara makes the decision, clasps his hands behind his back and breathes in a deep breath.
He gazes out of the window, looking over his Suna, but keeps his face rigid within an unreadable mask of sand. Behind him, through the reflection on the glass, he can see Temari standing with folded arms. Beside her stands a slouching Shikamaru Nara.
"I am the Kazekage." He says solemnly. "Only one of five Kages that this matter truly concerns. I have heard both of your arguments."
"Shikamaru Nara." Gaara says, and watches the chunin pause, looking up from the open scroll in his hand.
"You have succeeded in convincing me." Gaara shifts his gaze to his sister, and watches as the corners of her mouth tug downward in clear disapproval. "You are correct. I find it true that Temari's recommendation would have be much like the late Danzo Shimuro's way."
Shikamaru bobs his head.
"However, there is a condition that must be met for the sake of the Alliance."
"What a drag. More seals?" Shikamaru drawls. "He's already so covered in seals, that no one here can figure out how they interact, much less what they do to him."
"That is not necessarily what I have in mind. I judge the golden one to be a foreigner. All indications I have personally witnessed thus far show he knows nothing of the ways of shinobi. In short: This is not his war.
"He may prove useful. However, at this time, we know as much about him as we do the plans of the Akatsuki." Gaara turns and looks steadily at Shikamaru. "As he is somehow involved with our enemies, we need that remedied."
"What a bother..."
ooooo
Ed mulls to himself that what Matsuri called a "library" proved to be something of a disappointment. The place was small, and barely much more than a cupboard. The walls were covered in dusty shelves that reached from floor to ceiling, and stuffed in every cubby space were piles of rolled up paper scrolls. After shuffling through a dozen or so piles, he had indeed found two thick books.
Both happened to be chained up to the walls as though they were slaves about to run off.
He had browsed about a quarter through one tome when one of his escorts had the gall to shut the covers on him. He graced the med-nin with a glare, but the overly cheery girl immediately said something that sounded to be about food.
That was when he realized his stomach was roaring. The meal that followed was, as always, a strange one with a side of long noodles.
As Ed drags his tired feet over the threshold of the guest quarters, intent on aiming for most of the mattress as he collapses, he can only stare blearily at the unwelcome sight sitting on the room's newest addition.
The poor excuse of a couch, somehow squeezed in next to the mattress and the low bookcase, is bad enough. The behemoth of a piece dominates the room, and on it, dark eyes looking right at him, slouches "Pride." He tells himself that the only reason he doesn't outright attack the creature is because of "Not!Sheska".
No. "Matsuri" he reminds himself.
Yep. It's her fault.
He watches owlishly as she ducks her head in Pride's direction and turns her face back his way with a great grin plastered on.
"Ed. This is Shikamaru Nara. Mr. Nara, this is Ed."
Ed blinks a slow blink, and stares some more at Pride as he wills his mind to work.
"You one of shadow who took, and I wake to chains in hated place."
"Huh. Uh. Hated place?"
"Hospital." Ed waves one hand. "Hate hospitals."
"Ah." Pride leans his elbows on his knees. "Don't like them much myself."
The tone of voice is highly polite, and before his brain can properly analyze it further, Matsuri nods to someone. Ed turns his head to see who.
"I see you have met Mr. Nara. He is our guest like your are, and will be staying in here with you." Not!Riza- "Temari" says. He firmly reminds himself of her name as his gaze glides over the four ponytails.
"Your rescue was a joint effort between both of our villages."
"Villages." Ed looks to the headbands, and fiddles with his watch chain attached to a loop at his waist. He remembers that he should really find a better belt than the braided cloth one tied there now, and drags his eyes off of Temari's forehead and stares blandly at the plate tied on Nara's shoulder. "Snail village...?"
"Its a leaf." Matsuri says with a snort. "The symbol of Konohagakure."
Ed narrows his eyes, and supposes it looks sort of like a leaf if he squints at the thing too long. Instead of saying so, he yawns.
"I owe." He says as he looks at Temari as he straightens his sagging shoulders. "Now. Questions I yes?"
"What a drag." Nara whines. "Can't it wait for morning?"
Ed frowns, and drags his eyes longingly to the open door. He hopes Temari can read his unspoken request.
"Considering what the questions will concern, Kankuro will want to be present." Temari says coldly. "Expect him early."
Ed swears silently as his stomach seems to drop to the floor.
oooo
It is late into the night, and all the lights in the guest room are still on.
Shikamaru leans his head back into his clasped hands and studies the brightly lit ceiling from the vantage of the lumpy couch.
He hears the uneven thumps of mismatched footsteps, accompanied by a soft rustling of paper, and follows the short blond with his eyes. By the drag of cold glares he receives from the startling pair of blazing gold irises, he judges that he is, at the very least, an unwelcome guest to these quarters.
The bright lights reveal that the boy's eyes have massive bags under them, indicating days of little sleep, and the bruising of the broken nose adds an almost Tanuki shading to the boy's sockets. No. Not a boy. According to Kankuro, this Ed's in his late teens. The blond restlessly flips through more pages of the books, and abruptly turns away, muttering rather loudly in that non-sense that Shika can't follow.
Shika sighs. The bother of an assignment is to get information, any sort of information, about this foreigner. The drag is, he has to force a friendly sort of interaction with a certainly unfriendly fellow.
"You're keeping me awake."
"No care." Ed growls, and squats at a low bookcase without turning his way. "You no like, you can go."
Shikamaru lowers his arms. The teen is certainly intelligent. It could be a challenge.
"How about a game?"
"Busy." Ed snaps. "You words.."
"...Are better understood if you speak them properly. What a drag. Me telling someone this, but you really need to be practicing speaking with someone." Shikamaru leans his elbows onto his knees as he watches the tenseness of the teen's back. "I want to show you to a favorite game of mine. It's called Shogi."
"Shogi." Golden eyes narrow his way.
After a moment, Ed nods.
Shika proudly brings out his board from his pack, and dumps the tile pieces onto the middle cushion. He points to the far end of the couch, and waves Ed to the tiles.
Ed selects one, still standing, and holds it by the edges between his right thumb and forefinger. As he narrows his golden eyes, peering at the writing, Shika takes in a breath to explain.
The movement is quick. A slap of two palms together followed by a blindingly blue flash of light.
Before he can do a thing, Ed snatches his forearm and slices into the flesh with something in his right hand. Shika squawks at the stinging cut and does his best to kick him off. Ed's grappling hold persists though he squirms mightily.
Blood dribbles out in a heartbeat's time.
"You human." Ed breathes with relief. "All human."
"Of course I'm all human!! What the..! Tell me. What was that about?" Shika shouts as snatches his arm back. He sees the cut is shallow, and covers it with a cloth he finds in his pack. The bleeding stops in a few moments.
Shika watches Ed warily as the teen settles himself at the opposite end of the couch, fierce golden eyes flickering with unguarded astonishment. It's some time later when the teen seems to come to a decision, and lets out a breath.
"We meet. I call you name."
"Pride?" Shikamaru says. "Who's this Pride?"
"Is thing not who. Can do like you did. Shadows. Near word is "beast". " Ed wrinkles his nose. "Demon. Pride thing worse. Smart. Much smart."
"What if I tell you that my whole clan can do things with shadows."
Ed swallows, and blinks a few times. Then he nods with a creeping grin. "Neat trick." Ed then busies his hands with game pieces. "You..ah... villages battle coming. Yes?"
"War."
Ed nods, and fiddles with the tile as he softly tastes the word.
"Yes, so?" Shikamaru prods, taking a game piece himself from the mess on the floor. It happens to be the king, and the narrow end has a curiously sharp taper to it.
The golden eyes flicker his way.
"Hope you no die."
Shikamaru brows nearly touch his hairline, and he places the piece on the game board. Tiles click on Ed's side, and Shika frowns.
"Tell me. Of this, um. "Pride"."
"Uses people." Ed says. "Um. Eats. People. Um..no....worse than "eat"."
"Eats..? People...?"
"Yes." Shika's hands move as if one automatic, placing the tiles in their proper places.
"Tell me, what's worse than a thing eating people.?"
"Your move. Porcupine hair."
Shika looks up from his half-set up side and sees a wide smirk on Ed's pale face. The pieces of tile on his side are all set up in perfect order.
oooo
A/N: ok.. The plot bunny bit me... couldn't resist... a round two....
oooo
The rising sun kisses the dunes when he knocks on the door, but he widens his eyes slightly as the door swings wide, as if opened by a ghost.
Kankuro takes a step forward, and pauses to look about for the guest that was supposed to greet him. This Ed is supposed to be alone in the room, as Temari had come by to be debriefed by Shikamaru barely fifteen minutes ago.
As he turns his head, a fist flies out, striking his exposed painted cheek.
"For. "Small"." Ed bites out angrily, and straightens his spine to adjust his stance from behind the wooden plank of a door. Kankuro raises his hand to his cheek as the blond cups his hands together, and pops his knuckles one by one.
A heartbeat later Ed grasps a firm hold of the front of the dark colored shirt with one hand, and Kankuro widens his eyes. He watches in amazement as the skinny arm not only easily holds his weight aloft, but slams his back to the wall.
The blond cocks his arm back for another blow, and growls "Now "dwarf"."
Kankuro's fingers fly through the signs, and with a poof of smoke, the illusion breaks. He smirks as he settles himself, leaning casually against the far wall well out of the blond's sight.
He never tires of seeing the surprise the body switch spell has, even on seasoned nin, and with the puppet taking the brunt of the short blond's blows, he finds he was more than wise to use such a tactic here. That the puppet, named Crow, happens to have on one of the Akatsuki cloaks Suna had collected from a defeated Sasori is just part of the plan.
After all, what better way is there for Kankuro to glean information on what the short blond knows?
He watches in silence as Ed immediately releases his grip on the cloth and pedals back a few steps. He tilts his head with interest as Ed then narrows his eyes, and breathes in deeply. Then touches his palms together.
ooooo
He sees two pairs of arms rise through the mist, and given his many field assignments, he may be forgiven if his first thoughts of the thing before him gather around the term "chimera".
The hallow clanking he hears, as he ducks beneath the useless strikes of the arms, force him to shove that theory aside. He listens to the incessant clicking of wood against wood, the creaking of many wooden mechanisms, and his brain stumbles to catch up with sudden events.
Lord Kankuro: a puppet?
He chokes down a bitter laugh.
"Stupid." So stupid. "You all stupid as me."
And that is not all. That's not all that he is aware of. There is a distinctive odor that he had smelled earlier coming off of that "Lord Kankuro", and he broke off the righteous smack down because of the alarm he felt over it. He could not quite place the smell at the time, true, but now the sickly sweet sort of odor gave rise to many dark suspicions.
As an Alchemist, he has long heard of poisons, and while working as a field agent, he occasionally ran into them. The worst he found worked by seeping into the bloodstream, sometimes just by contact with bare skin, and it was those times that his automail arm proved to be a real blessing.
The sweet smelling alkaloid, surely dangling off someone else's hemoglobin, is certainly dangerous, but he doesn't have the time to check if his skin is clean of it. The puppet swings about, arms flying wildly with more stupid slapping attacks, Ed quickly determines his best course of action. He flips to his hands, leaping back, kicking out his left leg to keep the bulk of puppet back. His metal toes strike true, and as the wooden body bangs against the far wall, Ed rises to his feet.
He frowns, and watches with widened eyes the two pairs of arms hovering about him in defiance of gravity. At the junction where the shoulder should be on each is a long wicked blade. He crouches low and as far away as he can from the dripping points directed at his vital parts.
"Blood seal..." Ed says in Amestrian. "Where is it.."
He swallows the lump forming in his throat. He knows well that he doesn't have to know where exactly a bloodseal is. He just has to deconstruct the material it is on.
"Kankuro." Ed says in careful Gibberish as he hovers his splayed hands over the floor. "Sorry. You stuck in.." Ed scowl, tries for the word, but settles for.. "..Stupid doll. Bad. I know. No want kill.."
".. Ed?" Temari says behind him.
He doesn't move as he sees her stride into the room, but he feels her slide her glare his way. A heartbeat later she snaps."Kankuro!"
"Hey! He attacked me." Kankuro's voice says across the room. Ed darts his eyes and sees him give a smooth, flesh hosted shrug. He scowls, and feels his ears burn at how easily he was tricked.
"What are you doing?" Shikamaru says in a harsh whisper that makes him jolt.
Ed shoots scowling glare over at Kankuro, and darts his eyes to the arms. Instead of floating, possibly poisoned, blades, he sees thick smoke obscuring the ceiling.
"Tell clownface." Ed shakes out his hands and rises to his feet. "Too old to play with toys."
"As you know, Kankuro is here for a reason. We have questions." Temari says firmly. "About people who wear cloaks like the puppet."
oooo
Kankuro raises his hand and the puppet moves over to slump on the other end of the couch. Ed watches it move with tense shoulders, and Kankuro finds he can't resist making it move in a very life like manner.
For Ed watches it with wary glances as the questions begin.
Mostly, the questions are direct and to the point, asking about both the slavers and Akatsuki. He watches as Ed's jaw sag with rising confusion as between the two of them, Temari and Shikamaru gradually speed up peppering him with query after query. Rather than actually listen much to the increasingly halty answers offered, Kankuro busies himself with his new amusement.
Kankuro finds he enjoys the watching the many conflicting expressions fluttering over the short nothing's face. Disgust wars with relief, dusted over well with hurt, and oddly, with every passing minute, a great underpinning of guilt.
Kankuro frowns at the sudden, long, and loud line of non-sense that the short blond shouts, not understanding a thing except for the highly expressive gestures the boy makes with his arms at the entire room.
"Too." Ed snarls, and frowns and repeats with he eyes squished shut. "Many Too. Wording.."
Kankuro wiggles the puppet closer, and the golden orbs pop open once more in response to the noisy clattering. Kankuro's brows rise as Ed suddenly bolts up as one of the four arms brushes close to the long white sleeve over his arm. He stands, eyes on the puppet, panting aloud for two breaths, before darting his eyes towards the bathroom.
"I go." Ed says evenly, and steps away before another swinging arm can so much as touch him. Kankuro smirks as he sees, just for a moment, the flickering of an unguarded emotion.
Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....
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