Ed takes in a sharp breath, filling his starved lungs with precious cool air that stabs deep in his chest. He chokes and sputters against what seems to be barbs digging into his throat, clutching smooth cotton with both hands as he claws his way back to the world.
"He's awake." He hears spoken in a distorted soft feminine voice somewhere above him. He cracks an eye open, and winces at the too bright light. He sees a hulking shadow hovering nearby, and breathes a hopeful, "Alphonse..?"
He stares blankly at the form, which is neither familiar nor made of empty metal, and it's several blinks later that his mind recalls exactly where it is that his brother is waiting.
The nothingness of white and he's all alone and it's all my fault in the first place and.. dammit I can't just...!
He grits his teeth and jolts up, but large hammy hands shove him down into the vague softness he knows has to be a mattress. He arches his back against the unwelcome touch, thrashing and kicking out savagely.
He hears a grunt as his unfeeling left foot connects with something, and the blow that follows has him gasping with pain.
He desperately tries to shove the agony down, needing to move above all else; he grimaces as, at the moment, he can only move his knees upwards and barely roll to the side. Several heartbeats later he works out what happened, and through the burning throb of his groin that seems to reach his ears, he picks out bits and pieces of a rather scathing scolding by the female voice.
Gibberish seems so much easier to understand now, he thinks, gasping, and cracks his eyes open once more. He sees a bland wall, a thin bookcase, in which are several large dark bottles and piles of green bundles he supposes are herbs. He fells a hand on his bare shoulder and the touch makes his muscles twitch.
"Easy there." The hand lifts. "Easy." He hears soft footfalls, and follows the sound to his feet. A glimpse of shoulder length pink hair has him lower his brows. Sea green eye peer down at him at first, and the girl, "Sakura", bends to look rather closely at him for several moments with a studious expression. He narrows his eyes and glares right back.
He holds his gaze steadily even as he feels just how naked he really is under the thin sheet of cloth that is draped over him.
"Sorry. What happened was my fault and.."
"Where I?" He squeaks, throat brittle and dry like sandpaper. Her lips curl in a slight smile he knows is supposed to be reassuring, and he watches one of her hands with great suspicion as it slowly moves to the side. He blinks owlishly at the cup it cradles as both approach. Stubbornly, he jerks his chin away, and flares his nostrils in alarm.
"Shh... just water. Drink." She insists, and the cup hovers just at his lips. He looks at the clear liquid and frowns. Several drops spill down his cheek, and his tongue darts out before his brain truly engages. He pushes his head back away, stubborn still, but greedily swallows in spite of himself as a full gulp after gulp is poured in his mouth.
The liquid, if only water like the pink haired nin says, soothes his parched throat well enough that when the cup finally moves away, his voice is near normal strength when he tries again. "Where I. Now?"
"Med.."she begins.
"You are laying in the medical department of the Allied Shinobi Forces." The voice of Scarface growls. "And you can drop the act right now. We know you can speak our language."
Ed uncurls himself from his protective ball as he looks over his shoulder at the man. The beefy arms fold over the back of a wooden chair almost casually as the man returns his glare with an icy stare of his own. Ed shakes his head as he takes a breath to answer.
"Not."
"Quite fluently, in fact." The man adds.
"Books one week..." Ed began.
"The Hokage heard you herself." The man continues, interrupting. "You spoke about some kinjutstu she only heard of as though you were reading a damned textbook, so obviously your claimed ignorance of chakra techniques is also a lie. Not that those facts matter all that much as to your agreement with us. That's why I'm here you see." Ed watches the beady dark eyes of the man narrow. "We showed you what you wanted, now I believe you should hold up your end of the bargain."
The man's hand moves slightly, and a sparkling jewel, pinched between a thumb and forefinger, inches towards him. Ed directs his gaze to a spot vaguely over the man's shoulder, only to see more onlookers with nin plates on their foreheads standing there.
"Talk."
Ed darts his eyes to the man briefly at the tone of command. He rolls to his back, and holds out right hand for the jewel. When it is handed over, he makes a great show of rolling it about in his living palm.
Ed sighs as he pinches the gem between a thumb and forefinger to peer at the thing with narrowed eyes. As he feigns further thoughtful examinations, he says, "I have questions."
"Answer ours first. Begin with the Akatsuki."
"Your people. Have much rules, yes?"
Ed isn't quite surprised at the silence he hears, and he slides his eye to Scarface. The man's face is carefully composed, but his beady eyes twinkle with what looks to be confusion. Ed looks back to the gem and waits. When the man shifts in the seat, he asks again.
"They are criminals and are our enemies."
"What they do?"
"Just. Tell us what you know."
"I answer what I can. What you want."
"Where is their current...?"
"Things of mine would help." Ed interrupts. "Tell to me where."
"Safe." Ed gives a small nod and tilts his head as he feigns looking up at the gem. He lets the silence stretch some more. The man growls and speaks to someone too quickly to follow. When he takes a breath, Ed interrupts.
"What makes them enemies of you?"
"The Akatsuki are made up of criminal nin who have abandoned their home villages and are known to have killed a number of nins." Sakura blurts. Her eyes are glassy with unshed tears, and Ed frowns as guilt twists in his belly. He can never stand seeing a woman cry. "They're after a friend of mine...that's what this war is all about. Protecting him, and.."
"Haruno!" Scarface barks. Sakura frowns and looks away.
"..Murderers?" Ed says in Amestrain, and watches as Sakura busies herself with the bundled greenery. Ed tosses the gem into the air and deftly catches it with his left, before he hands the gem back to Scarface.
"Where. I not know."
Scarface frowns as he holds his gaze steady, and Ed sees the man's jaw move slightly as if he were chewing the inside of his cheek.
"Are you certain you have no knowledge of their location?" The man says steadily. "What if.. What is it now? Ah yes." Scarface reaches slowly into a pouch and withdraws a slip of paper. "We have reports of a man calling himself...ah... Al-f-on-ze..."
Ed bolts up as the man mangles the name, and completely misses what else Scarface says as he hotly meets the man's beady cold gaze.
"They have Alphonse..? They...? Fuk fuk..." Ed scoots the edge of the bed, where he hurriedly wraps the sheet about his naked self. He rubs a hand over his chin as the man looks at him in plain confusion, and takes a breath to begin again in more careful Gibberish. "You say they have Al?"
Ed watches the man carefully as Scarface leans back. He leans forward as the moments tick by, and just as he's about to reach out with a firm grip to demand the man answer, Scarface takes a measured breath.
"That's what the latest report says."
He says as he slowly pockets the slip of paper. Ed narrows his eyes and lets his gaze sweep across the floor. He scrapes his memory, searching for the faint fragments of those frantic moments at the Gate.
"Did that Bastard actually do it? And was Al pulled through by that Homunculus, too?" Ed stands up on unsteady feet, and act that had Sakura yelling out in alarm. Ed slaps away Scarface's pawing hands, and hefts the sheet firmly about himself as he begins to pace. "If I'm in this bad of shape, Al has to be.. no I don't want to think of it. No!" Ed snarls in Amestrian as he runs his free hand through his hair. "Al should be home, safe, and not.."
"Tell me what you know." Scarface says, and Ed looks at the man. His gaze hardens after several heartbeats, then falls to the floor.
"I.. cave. I know cave by...a water. flowing." Ed tries in Gibberish. Then begins pacing again. At the next turn he angrily touches his palms together. A flash of blue sparks later and the stupid sheet reforms itself into a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of boxers, both of which were still just as white as the material from which they came. Scarface's eyes widen, and Ed sees that the guy didn't quite get what he describes. He takes a deep breath, and squeezes his eyes closed as he concentrates on the stupid Gibberish he can reach in his head.
"Where I fell." Ed says in Gibberish. "Cave is."
"Fell?"
"Yes."
"I don't understand."
"I don't have words to say. Or time to say it." Ed snarls in Gibberish, and steps for the door. "I go..."
"..Now." The door juts inwards as he reaches for the knob. He see the face of the woman called the Hokage blocking his way. He looks behind her briefly and sees a nin with high flying gray hair; his face so covered in cloth, that only one eye shows. As Ed calculates the equation he needs to get around the pair in his mind, the Hokage's brown eyes widens as her gaze sweeps over him, and then looks within the room. "Ibiki? What're you do...What's going.."
Ed slaps his palms together, and as he is about to reach out, Sakura dives and grips both of his wrists. Ed frowns at her and nearly growls as she looks over her shoulder at the woman.
"Tsuande-sama. I'm sorry. I thought he had your authorization to be in here and.."
"This is an Intelligence matter, Hokage. I was simply doing my job." Scarface says over Sakura as he rises from the chair. "And I have ..some.. success to report."
The Hokage's eyes narrow, and as she hears the man's words, the corners of her mouth pull downwards.
ooooo
A/n--I hope you can see some serious malipulation going on, as I can't figure out how to make more blantant without make Ed look incredably stupid. Also-- this chappy was officially done on a real computer, as opposed to my poor, much abused, cell-a-saurus.
Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....
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