Fma-naruto crossover chapter 29. Or is it 30?

"I don't care what anyone else says: He smells funny." Kiba says loudly as he clasps his hands behind his head. Shikamaru huffs out a breath just before the big dog, Akamaru, barks softly in apparent agreement with his human partner. Kiba leans against the dog's side as Shikamaru looks Choji's way. The big nin settles his back against a heaping bag of roots, and glances up at the door.

"Who you talking about?" Choji says.

The three, no, four of them weren't exactly hiding amongst the huge mounds of supplies, but Choji insisted to be close, for Ino's sake. Shikamaru couldn't deny that even if the room was the closest to the interrogation area, their lingering there would make sense. They were all to be heading out to the front lines in a few scant hours.

"Who ya think?"

Shika makes a noncommittal noise and tries not to think of the bother that Ino must be facing. It seems like only moments had passed before she was determined to be largely unharmed. Whatever had gone wrong with her mind-transfer jutsu was not forgotten; He had not forgotten it. However, the Hokage insisted on the bother that she be interrogated by Ibiki himself instead conducting more medical tests to be sure she was indeed alright.

Instead, the Hokage turned her attention away to the drag of the other in the room. Shika could easily recall the flopped over form on the other bed in the room, and the way Sakura hands fluttered through the usual medical tests with an alarmed air to her movements. Every few seconds, the entire limp body would twitch, but Shika could not find he cared all that much about it. He was too relieved that Ino was alright to be concerned over that Ed's welfare all that much.

"He smells funny." Kiba insists.

"Gear oil." Choji says with a shrug. Shikamaru raises an eyebrow towards his best friend. He hadn't noticed anything particularly smelly about the false leg of Ino's foe, even if he had known Ed longer than any of leaf had.

"No. I got that. It's him that's… gahrrrr. You won't get it."

"How you think Ino's holding up?" Choji says as he slides his eyes back for a moment, watching Kiba's exaggerated antics as the nin pinches his nose between his fingers and scowls.

"What a drag." Shikamaru says, and leans back onto his own sack of roots. He swallows before he looks up to the rafters, and thinks clouds would be much better to look at than those dust choked cobwebs.

Oooo

Ino sits in the low wooden chair, finding it difficult to find a comfortable way to place her legs. She glances up at the scarred face of the specialist jonin looming above her. As scary as he looked back during the chunin exams, she finds she can't be as easily frightened by him now.

The worst that she could have imagined has happened already. Her village is destroyed. And her dad? He dad may be dead on the operating floor for all she knows. She is useless.

They wouldn't even let her help.

"And what else can you recall, Chunin Yamanaka?"

"I've told you all that I can think of.. I" Ino begins, but stops when she sees the jonin glaring down at her. She glares weakly back, feeling the ache of a heavy weight wrenching her heart.

So. Useless.

"I am well aware of how your technique works. You seize control of the body's motor cortex, and can speak with the host body if you so choose. Ibiki takes a breath. "He said something to you . Didn't he?"

Ino looks blankly at the large man, and blinks her eyes a few times before muttering.

"I don't.. I.." Ino says. "He said a lot of things. But I only understood a phrase as I was shoved out."

"You say he shoved you out?"

"Yes. That's right. I could feel my chakra, but I couldn't reach. "

"Come now. I want to know what makes this Ed tick. Tell me."

Ino swallows.

"Do no get wrong idea, no do this for you." She repeats the phrase a few times for the man, and she wonders if he can hear right with those burns he had suffered.

Ibiki moves his head in a semblance of a single nod, and reaches over to place a hammy hand on her shoulder.

"Very good. Now. Chunin Yamanaka. Because of your rash actions there are certain. Consequences... that you must be subject to. ." Ibiki says evenly, and shifts his weight as a door creaks open on the far side of the room. He looks over, and so, she does as well.

She sees a pair of wooden crutches first, and follows the uneven line up to the crook of the arm. A disheveled mop of long blond hair drapes upon two solid arms, and the face the locks frame causes the great weight clenching her heart to loosen. She takes in a great breath as she presses her hands to her mouth.

"Dad!" She says with a grin. "You're…!"

"I'm fine." Inoichi replies with a thin grin of his own. She eyes the thick bandage wrapped about his head as he approaches. Ibiki steps back from her when Inoichi reaches the second chair, and she bolts forward to wrap her dad in a tight desperate hug. He pats his hands comfortably on her shoulders.

She loses track of time in the embrace, but eventually convinces herself that her dad is a solid person and will not vanish. She raises her head and regards the bandage.

"What..can you tell me.."

"Oh.. this?" Inoichi presses his fingers to the bandage. "They don't know yet. Chakra related I guess. Just means I'll have to rest more often. Take it easy."

"Oh..? But.." she hugs him again, not entirely sure he won't disappear anymore. She smiles as the music of his laughter fills her ears.

" Really. I'm ok." He takes hold of her shoulders and pulls her to his side. He looks down at her as says in serious voice. "I heard what you did for me."

"Hmm."

"That was reckless." He continues. "I was injured by him you know, and you could have..I could have lost you ."

"But dad I..!"

"Shhh. The will of fire does not allow for the next generation to die for the previous. And, now. I have to ask for your forgiveness."

She nods, and closes her eyes as she feels his hand lowering onto her forehead. A heartbeat later, she feels his feather light touches throughout her memories.

She faintly hears a boy's voice. It is tinny, like it is being played over a radio, asking,

"Are you really going to abandon them, brother?"

ooooo

"…He can and will devour souls. He is something like a Shinigami, but made flesh. "

"So kill him."

"No. That would be unwise. Don't you see? They feared a rampage of the likes the tailed beasts are only capable of. Or perhaps worse. "

"There's a worse than that?"

"care to take the risk? Killing him would most likely free the thing within him."

"That's why they sealed his chakra."

"I suppose so."

"Thoughtful of them, Slavers. Or the Akatsuki. Thinking of our welfare and all before they go and start a war."

"We believe it's someone from Orichimaru's camp, actually. Someone who is quite familiar with his experiments with seals. Perhaps even Kabuto Yukushi."

"We can't be absolutely certain until we locate him."

"I can see sealing the boy. But why keep him. Enslave him? I mean, without chakra, he's practically useless, right? "

"We have found no bloodline limits that anyone is aware of. But he does have a special ability."

"Ah yes. Other than that fine combination of golden hair and golden eyes."

"There are plenty of people who have golden hair and golden eyes, you old fart."

"Both at the same time? I seem to recall an old bedtime story that goes along with that. The last time someone showed up with those features, an entire continent vanished in one night! "

"I think you're greatly simplifying the entire story there old man."

"So? If that outlander in the tale really were a Shinigami in disguise, I can see that happening! We have enough problems with Madara. I say seal him up in a scroll, and we'll be just fine."

"He's a …."

"That is a fool move: Listen. They left behind him, in that condition, and did not bother to dispose of him."

"They were sloppy you mean."

"No. I mean they have something from him that is very valuable, and will likely be used in this War."

"What? What could they possibly have taken…?"

"All the knowledge of the devoured."

"You mean he's…by the Sage himself.."

"He's a living library…?"

"I am no expert, but yes. That seems to fit. Both Orichimaru and Kabuto are well known for their obsession with research. With this Ed, there's an ease to it. Just ask the right question. No need for scrolls or scholars. Rare scrolls thefts have dropped to nill since the invasion."

"You don't exactly have anything to raid anymore, Leaf. "

"Oh. Shut it."

"If he is truly a Shinigami, then I think you all will agree to the course of action I am proposing."

"He is not a Shinigami. He is ..more like us jinchuriki. He holds within him something terrible, but he is not it. I suggest you all keep that in mind in your considerations."

"Hold on. That should mean…If he has the knowledge of our language, then why the terrible.. Why can't he understand us, nor communicate with us very well."

"I think Gaara's correct. He's very like the jinchuriki. It's like they are with their bijuu's chakra in a way, before they have reached mastery over the bijuu. I have observed him when the seals were active. They put him into an altered state of mind, near sleep but awake enough to see his surroundings. He is not his usual self."

"I would like to have words with him. Determine this for myself."

"All of us would."

"Unfortunately he is indisposed at this time."

"Indisposed?"

"A recent ordeal he endured of which I will not disclose without his informed consent."

"He is weak, you mean, and an unfit container for something as dangerous as this..this Shinigami. "

"Perhaps. In the meantime, listen to my suggestions if you wish to keep your mind justu casters safe: Do not, under any circumstance, enter his mind."

oooo

A/N- will try to post something more before Halloween, but no promises. Nanowritmo is calling, and begins next week!!! Gahhh!! I must be insane!!!

Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....

Fma-naruto crossover chapter 28

Shikamaru slouches his way down the hall, both hands in his pockets. He slides his eye back to Choji as his friend pushes the large contraption of bed along. Choji's face is stoney as he looks blankly forward, and the drag of it all is that Shika knows what a mask it really is. He glances once down towards the too still form of Ino, lying pale beneath the thin white sheets, and watches the jaw of Choji grind with deep worry.

When they reach the door, Shikamaru simply stops walking. He can easily hear the Hokage speaking in the room beyond, and by the drag of her tone, she doesn't sound happy. He wonders just how long she's been inside as he glances again back to Choji. Choji only nods in encouragement, and Shika let out a breath.

He raps his knuckles against the door, and hears a sharp sound within. It is too soon to be in response to his knocking, and sounds as though a hand slapped against some flesh. Before he can wonder much on what it could mean, sparks of blue lightening spark and dance across the tiles at his feet.

He hears a groaning rumble, and the silence afterwards is followed by the Hokage's voice.

"It'll do."

The door swings inwards, and he finds he gazes at the Hokage's displeased face.

"Good. You're here. Move her over there." She says, gesturing vaguely over her shoulder. Shikamaru steps within the room and slouches against the nearest wall as Choji complies with her orders. He recalls a low wall that stretched from the door to the far end of the room, and numerous sculpted hands which protruded from the walls, ceiling and floor. The area she indicated to wheel the bed is clear, a far cry from the strange, likely summoned, mess he had witnessed in here earlier.

He sees Ed leaning heavily against one hand upon the far wall, dressed only in a pair of white shorts, and narrows his eyes slightly at the sight. The shiny metal leg that was his left is gone from its accustomed place, and lies on top of the bed the boy is by. Shikamaru is well aware the leg is false and has known for quite some time but, looking at the gaping emptiness now is very different. It is as though the leg was chopped off at the thigh, and Shika can't help but eye the barren metal thing bolted where the leg should rightly be.

He stares and can't help but wonder how many of his fellow nins would be lucky enough to have just a missing limb at the end of the upcoming battles.

The boy hops unsteadily on his one remaining leg, golden eyes glaring at the Hokage.

"You no listen. I no can.." The boy snarls.

"You are not the one I am depending on in this procedure." The Hokage roars over him. "Now sit."

Instead of complying, Ed darts his golden orbs briefly Shika's way, and then slides them towards the entering bed. He sees the boy's thin brows skew upwards as Ed watches Ino get rolled into place.

If the boy wasn't the enemy, if the boy wasn't responsible for Ino's current condition, if the boy wasn't the one that so gravely injured Ino's father...

This is war, Shikamaru reminds himself. His people are depending upon him for his intelligence, for his firm decisions, and this boy, who is very likely working for the enemy, cannot be sympathized with. Shika slides his gaze blithely towards the other bed in the room, where Sakura is fussing with what looks to be clothing.

"Calm down, Ed." Sakura says softly, and walks over Ed's scarred shoulder. "Here, let me..."

Ed pushes her aside, and hops his way over to the bed with a deep frown plastered on his face. Sakura looks his way and Shika can see her roll her eyes as Ed half hand walks and hops his way to the end of the bed.

"I said sit." The Hokage says, and places her hands at her hips as she towers to glare down at Ed. Ed for his part, glares defiantly back. "Let me be very clear. We. Are at War. There will be no deal, here. Not like you want. You will not be learning ninjutsu, certainly not for such a dubious service as you offered."

"Tell to me what you mean!" Ed snarls. "Are you to kill me..?! Or. Or her..?! Both?!?"

The Hokage raises a single finger and points it at Ed's unprotected forehead as she speaks.

"Fact. Ino is a competent nin, well versed in her family's techniques. She will be the one getting herself out of you, not, I repeat, not you. She merely needs the chakra that you happen to lack to be doing so. "

"What you plan?" Ed demands.

"No harm to you or her. Now." The Hokage taps the tip of her finger on Ed's forehead. His head snaps back as though she had landed a heavy blow with her closed fist, and Shika supposes that is exactly how the seemingly gentle touch would feel on the receiving end. The Hokage is an expert at chakra control, and that touch likely has a huge amount of energy packed behind it. Ed flops onto his backside as she says. "Sit."

Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....

Fma naruto crossover chapter 26ish

A/N: I just completed some research thus--revisions for a certain sections--
oooo
He hears the rustle of fabric by his ear as he gasps, and feels the clinging wetness of tears upon his cheeks. He looks aside and sees Kakashi squat down by him as he lifts his head a little from his hands.
"Ino..? Is that..?"
Ed narrows his eyes at the man's mismatched gaze, and pushes himself off the tiled floor. The sluggish response of his false leg surprises him, and he teeters precariously to his left.
"No..I suppose not." Ed hears the man whisper, the words nearly lost in the noise filling the hall. No. he's in a room. He picks out the high whirling of straining automail gears amongst the general din of voices, and looks down. Many cracks meander from broken tiles, and two of his metal toes are missing. He glances back and sees the bed, and supposes he's still in the same room before he confirms his suspicions by eying the mess of alchemical constructs on his left.
The ginormous white dog whines as he ambles towards a white washed wall. The gathered crowd milling about the door hushes. He freezes his movements as the sharp edge of a knife bites at his throat. He follows the arm as far as he dares, but the strong whiff of dog tells him that it has to be the wild haired boy that has the weapon.
"What was that you were saying about Konoha?" He hears the boy growl in his ear.
Ed smoothly shifts back, takes a firm hold of both the boy's arm and the fur like tunic thing he wears, and rolls his shoulders. The boy lands hard on the broken tile at Ed's feet, and the impact frees the knife. The thing clatters off to bang against base of the low alchemical wall.
"Learn some manners." Ed growls at the breathless boy. He flicks his eyes at the crowd, and then stiffens as he feels a slight prick at his back. The big white dog is suddenly there before him, growling threats with bared teeth.
"Care to say that in a more civil tongue?" He hears Kakashi's voice say calmly behind him. He turns his head slightly, and narrows his eyes at the mismatched gaze.
"Manners." Ed says in careful Gibberish. "You. Need good ones."
"Manners. You say. Ah." The man says noncommittally, and shifts his gaze and adds in a more commanding tone. "Kiba, take Akamaru and the others. Get out of here. Now."
"But.."
"Don't make me put all of you on detail. This mess is your doing and is a serious breach of protocol." Kakashi looks to the crowd, and Ed follows his gaze. Many of the nins look sheepishly down at their sandals." You are fortunate that the villages are still getting organized and I am the one in field command of Konoha nin. You all have your assignments. Go."
Ed closes his eyes and, after letting out a breath, is careful to move his hands slowly. The boy snarls at him in a manner much like the dog before scrambling away on all fours. Ed finds himself wondering if the boy is some sort of chimera.
With little other choice, Ed silently watches as the others shuffle out. The crowd is sullen as they look back, if they look his way at all. His gaze wanders, then lingers on the limp form of a blond girl slumped on the ground a few feet by the door. Her long blond ponytail is artfully arranged over her limp shoulder.
A rather plump nin squats down and, with great care, hefts the body from the floor. As the girl's head is cradled in the nook of his flabby neck, the chubby face glances at him with eyes brimming with hate.

Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....

Fma-naruto chappy 26 ish, revised..

Ed widens his eyes as the blond girl's body slumps and, with a start, looks around his surroundings.
He quickly stands up in the inky blackness, seeing nothing in the gloom. He breathes deep, intending to holler out, but feels no complex interplay of muscles to intake the no breath. Not sound passes through the nothing that must be his lips, and a heartbeat later, he realizes he hears nothing echoing in the surrounding ether. He knows his heart would have raced with sheer panic, and he wonders if he still has one, somewhere.
He channels his fear into anger, his most reliable of friends; it bubbles forth from his being, and he finds himself wishing he had something to strike with his fists—even though it is a futile wish. He is nothing but a passing thought, and even if it is a crazy notion, he somehow he knows it as true.
Is this how Al feels..? He thinks, darting his non-eyes about. A rumble of something like thunder passes overhead and he looks up to see a flash like blood soaked lightening above him. He reaches for it, and through the afterglow, sees the ghosting of his fingers. His throat would have tightened, he knows, and he wonders if he's dead. He looks closer at his digits and sees dark and red tinted storm clouds forming about his dim form.
No. Those are not clouds, he thinks. He watches them, billowing about above him, and all around They are not composed of something as mundane as water, a mere pair of hydrogen atoms loosely bonded to an oxygen atom do not behave that way. Not in here, wherever here is. Whatever they are, they are certainly pure and very pervasive.
He looks away and around, seeing all of them quickly drape and arrange themselves into orderly formula after formula. He works out what they are, and something of a thought later, permutations of billions upon billions of alchemical arrays storm forth from one of his hands alone. They are numbers: the purest form of data. A particularly ragged looking seal simmers to life at his command from a few of his outstretched fingers, and he can't help staring at the beauty of it. This huge volume of knowledge—a foggy mass that the Gate itself stuffed into his head—obscures the darkness of his own mind from him.
He feels a sharp pain in his remaining knee and gasps. It's a real gasp, and a dull ache of something else in his gut follows. The sudden influx of reality parts the haze from his disembodied sight, and.
He sees her, or rather the ghostly image of her. She floats in the darkness, utterly at home and snarling far far below his current position.
"So what if I can't walk, you idiots! I worked for the Akatsuki! I worked for the Akatsuki! You call yourselves shinobi? " She says clearly in Gibberish, then forces a wicked laugh. "What I did to that Inoichi.. I swear I'll do the same to every last one of you, and when that's done, I'll move on to--to every one of your family members! I swear that Konohagakure will be nothing but dust and bones by the day's end!"
By her words he is sure she is the one that did this something, whatever it is.
No. She couldn't.
Logically, if what he is seeing around him is pure Gate knowledge, leaking as ever from his mind, then he is still somewhere within his own body. If that is so...
Oh.. this is so very very familiar in so many disturbing ways. This is his body, dammit, and somehow she has total control of it!
He would have laughed had he a diaphragm to do so.
If she has control, it won't be for long. She is only human, and nothing really, compared to that ancient monster, Pride, who once, in desperation, tried to wrest his body from him. He won that terror of a fight entirely on his own, and with nothing more than his own mind and soul as weapons. She doesn't know how badly she has miscalculated. She doesn't know just who she is messing with.
She doesn't stand a chance. He thinks. If she expects me to not defend myself against such an hoary invader..!
He figures he'll deal with what and who is beyond that when he gets there; No big deal, really, he thinks, and settles himself to begin.
He tells himself that he is a philosopher's stone, with the power of a single soul, and reaches out.
He lifts his non brows at just how off his perceptions are in this place when his ghostlike hand fully encompasses the girl. He easily lifts her, for she is but a tiny thing, really, and as she rises in his massive grip, she turns to look at him. He winces as she shrieks shrilly, the sharp sound pierces his mind like an unwelcome knife, and leaves a pounding headache in its wake. He supposes he glowers her way in response, for she seems to shrink into herself in her fear. When she is the size of an insect and scrambling along on his forefinger, she brings her hands together. She proceeds to twist her fingers into a complex pattern, filled with the air of one that expects something to happen.
When nothing does, she looks up at him with wide, terror filled eyes. He watches the tears stream down the shape of her face. Even here, he can't but help be reminded of just who this girl, this—nin—looks like.
Besides, he tells himself, those tears are in no way real. He tries mightily to keep his silence stony as he regards her, but here, especially here in what must be his core, he can feel the cracks of his many flaws grinding. As ever, it is those cracks which threaten to shatter his heart to pieces.
ooooo
He hears the rustle of fabric by his ear as he gasps, and feels the clinging wetness of tears upon his cheeks. He looks aside and sees Kakashi squat down by him as he lifts his head a little from his hands.
"Ino..? Is that..?"
Ed narrows his eyes at the man's mismatched gaze, and pushes himself off the tiled floor. The sluggish response of his false leg surprises him, and he teeters precariously to his left.
"No..I suppose not." Ed hears the man whisper, the words nearly lost in the noise filling the hall. He picks out the high whirling of straining automail gears amongst the general din of voices, and looks down. Many cracks meander from broken tiles, and two of his metal toes are missing.
The gianormous white dog stands nearby and whines as he ambles towards a white washed wall. The gathered crowd hushes as he stops mid step, feeling the sharp edge of a knife biting at his throat. He follows the arm as far as he dares, but the strong whiff of dog tells him that it has to be the wild haired boy that has the weapon.
"What was that you were saying about Konoha?" He hears the boy growl in his ear. The dangerous position he is in reminds him much of his days he spent in training, but he swallows anyway.
It is afterall, expected.
ooooo
A/n- still working on it, and it flows so much better this way..
Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....

chappy 26 ish

Ed feels his body slump and, with a start, opens his eyes.
He quickly stands up in the inky blackness. He looks about himself, seeing nothing in the gloom. A heartbeat later, he realizes he hears nothing in the surrounding ether. He breathes deep to holler out, and feels no complex interplay of muscles to take no intake of breath. Not sound passes through the nothing that must be his his lips. He knows his heart would have raced with panic with sheer panic, and he wonders if he still has one, somewhere.
Most of all he wishes he had something to strike with his fists, but he knows it is a futile wish. He is nothing but a passing thought, and even if it is a crazy thought, he somehow he knows this as true.
Is this how Al feels..? He thinks, darting his non-eyes about. A rumble of something like thunder passes overhead and he looks up to see the familiar seal flash like blood soaked lightening above him. He reaches for it, and through it, sees the ghosting of his fingers. His throat would have tightened, he knows, and he wonders if he's dead as he sees dark and red tinted storm clouds forming.
No. Those are no clouds, he thinks. He watches them, billowing about above him, and know they are numbers. He looks away and around, seeing all of them quickly drape and arrange themselves into orderly formula after formula: billions upon billions of alchemical arrays storm forth from that one ragged seal and soon enough he surrounded by the foggy mass of them.
He feels a sharp pain in his remaining knee and gasps. It's a real gasp, with the complex interplay of muscles and the dull ache of something else in his gut. Then he sees her.
Or rather the ghostly image of her, far far below. She floats in the darkness, utterly at home and snarling something in Gibberish. He hears something about a body being hers now, and she states with some pride that there is no defense against her technique. He uses her words to work out that the body she speaks of is his.
Logically, if he can judge by the seal he saw, the seal which he supposes connects his soul to Al's, then he is still somewhere within his own body. If that is so...
He would have laughed had he a diaphragm to do so. She is only human, and nothing really, compared to that ancient monster, Pride. He won that terror of a fight entirely on his own, and with nothing more than his own mind and soul as a weapon. This fight would truly be nothing for him to win.
She doesn't stand a chance. He thinks. Familiar anger from deep in his being bubbles forth, frothing the arrays as though they were sea foam. If she expects me to not defend myself against such an invader, a hoary, living violation of my very being, then she is sorely mistaken.
He begins, telling himself that he is a philosopher's stone, with the power of a single soul…
He lifts his non brows at just how off his perceptions are in this strange place when his ghostlike hand fully encompasses the girl. He easily lifts her, for she is but a tiny thing, really. As she rises in his massive grip, she turns to look at him, and then shrieks shrilly.
When she is the size of an insect and perched on his forefinger, she brings her hands together, and looks up at him with wide, terror filled, eyes. He watches tears stream down the shape of her face.
Even here, he can't but help be reminded of just who this girl, this—nin—looks like. Besides, he tells himself, those tears are in no way real.
He tries mightily to keep his silence stony as he regards her, but here, especially here in what must be his core, he can feel the cracks of his many flaws grinding. As ever, it is those cracks which threaten to shatter his heart to pieces.
ooooo
Kakashi squats down by him as he lifts his head from his hands.
"Ino..?"
Ed narrows his eyes at the man as he pushes himself off the tiled floor.
"No..I suppose not." Ed hears the man whisper.
The white dog whines as he ambles his way over to the end of the bed, and stops mid step when he feels the sharp edge of a knife at his throat. He follows the arm as far as he dares, but the strong whiff of dog tells him that it is the wild haired boy that has the weapon. He drags his eyes to the fat boy cradling Winry's limp form and swallows.
oooooo
A/n--working on it...
Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....

Chapter 25ish

Ed nearly inhales what appears to be a sticky brownish mess of some sort of goop, which he knows most back home would have thought, at first glance, as belonging buried in a hole somewhere rather than presented as a meal. He avoids Sakura's astonished gaze as he places the empty bowl aside, and sweeps another from her hands. He pours the contents of this dish into his mouth, nearly without taking a breath and startles when the door swings open.
A quick and dirty equation shines in his head, and he leans his back more solidly against the wall as he touches his fingers of his right to the fingers of his left about the round shape he clutches in his hands. The composition of the ground beneath him is easy enough to calculate, as are the bowls, and he shifts his weight slightly. Even as the bare metal of his left scrapes against the tile and echoes into the hall, he is ready. He feels the hum of the earth singing within his bones.
He swallows what he can, (what he can't he crams into his cheeks), and glares up past the plain white rim. For good measure, as he chews, he narrows his eyes. Towering above him, just past the door itself, is the woman called the Hokage. She smiles down, a false friendly toothy thing, just as his left cheek is freed of a mass of sticky stuff.
"Natto agrees with him, I see." She chuckles, and looks over the arrangement of bowls he has placed around him. He sees her intelligent brown eyes narrow and for a moment, he wonders if she recognizes the pattern of the defensive array they form.
"Yes, it was, uh, the only thing that didn't have chakra enhancers in it." Sakura says from the wall by the bed. The Hokage nods and gazes down at him once more, familiar face unreadable. The look on her face reminds him so of the sneak thief Clara. Brown orbs full of intelligence, tricks, mysteries, and broken promises, and more. His heart hammers in his chest now as it did then on that roof in Aquroya, and he nearly triggers his array. He tells himself it's not so that he may flee instead of facing the sheer embarrassment of his own hormones.
"Kakashi. Why is he on the floor?".
Ed swallows down the clumps stuffed into his right cheek as he lowers the empty bowl from his face.
"Ah…" Kakashi begins, his single visible eye blinking rapidly as if the man had awoken from a light doze. Ed suspects it's mostly an act. Mostly.
"My choice." Ed says, and carefully places the bowl in the center of his arrangement as he climbs to his feet. He levels his gaze at the Hokage, then glances over to Kakashi before he steps away from the door. His metal foot clinks on the tile as he turns, and he takes care to never face away from any of the nins in the room.
"And, uh.. did you examine.."
"That. Has yet to be accomplished." Kakashi says vaguely, and turns a page of his tiny book.
Ed folds his arms as his metal heel bangs noisily against a wall, and lowers his head to allow his bangs to curtain his eyes. He watches for a rolled parchment of any sort, and seeing none, settles his back against the surface behind him as he considers several equations flittering about his consciousness. He hears more sandal leather squeak and some weight shift some grit at the doorway, but his view of the bodies they belong to is blocked by the door.
The Hokage's gaze sweeps over him as a frown creases her faint brows.
"I see. Sakura, come with me please?"
He watches the door slowly close. The silence that follows fills the room. In time Kakashi clears his throat, and Ed turns his head just as the man makes a show of closing his little book.
"So. You really like natto I take it."
Ed snorts, and looks at the hinges of his false toes.
"No." Ed replies. "Is nasty. Better than no food. You?"
Ed looks to the door, then slides his eyes towards the silently watching, slouching man.
"Is…Question for question. Equal good, yes?"
"Excuse me?" Kakashi's single eye squints. Ed lets out a breath and turns away as he shrugs.
"Thought not."
"What are you..um. Would you explain what you mean?" Ed looks back.
"Equal good. No. Not right. Bad word. Equal… Equal.. trade! That it. Equal trade."
"Equal trade..?"
"Is of I am. I look and look, but books no word of it." Ed grumbles, and kicks out his metal toes at an imaginary rock. "You nin word simple. I no nin."
"I know that. Sakura filled me in." Kakashi says. "What.. what exactly are you then?" Ed narrows his eyes, and tilts his head.
"Answer question first.."
"Ah, equal trade is it?"
Ed nods a single slow nod.
"No, then. I have no particular fondness for natto."
"Ah." Ed grins. It is not quite his best and brightest fake one, but he thinks he manages nicely. "Alchemist." Ed says proudly in Amestrian, and adds in gibberish. "Think close word in you talk be "scientist", or "craftsman"."
"Craftsman, is it?" Kakashi says, "That reminds me."
Kakashi straightens and Ed's grin vanishes. He immediately ducks down, spreading his fingers just over his elbows, watching warily as the man slowly rises to his feet.
"Stay there." Ed growls out. Blue colored discharge flashes as the tiled floor warps up into a low wall between the bed and himself. The dishes he placed on the floor crash down on the lip of the thing, and he adjusts the equation to incorporate the trace amounts of iron and glass to form several wicked spikes pointed Kakashi's way.
"Hey ..easy." Kakashi says and lifts his hands to pat the air. He begins moving around the bed with the exaggerated care that one would use with a frightened wild animal. "I am here to examine those marks that are on you, and I can only do so up close."
"I fine. Just, stay there." Ed shifts the active equation further, allowing several stone hands to take shape from the walls. Kakashi stops, and fiddles a bit with his face mask as stone fingers form near his head. Ed grimaces as a particularly large and wildly snapping discharge launches into the air, forcing him to unfold his arms and place on hand on the wall behind him. The direct contact with the medium allows for him to smooth out the flow of energy, and he folds the unexpected excess back into the earth.
He sees Kakashi rubbing his chin, looking his way with two eyes now: one angry red iris nestles in a scarred socket; its partner, a more sedate deep brown.
"Let me ask you something Ed-kun."
"Not let you touch me." Ed says, and allows the active equation to shift stone fingers like they were living muscles.
"No I suppose not. But that wasn't my question. Could you tell me just how you did that?"
Ed narrows his eyes at the man.
The door bangs open, and Ed darts his gaze away. The fraction of a second it takes him to shift the equations he knows is far too long, and instead he whirls down and away to the safety of his low wall as much shouting fills the room. He's crawling at the far edge by the time he hears only Kakashi shouting for whoever it is to get the hell out.
He's behind the man, and very near the bed, when Kakashi begins looking over the wall and tentatively calling out his name. In that vantage point, he sees a pack of nins crowding the doorway, and ducks down before they look his way.
"Fuk." He whispers, and wracks his brain for options. At the moment, the only viable one is to create his own exit—preferrably through the nearest wall. He brings his palms closer together to do just that.
He hears a deep resonating sound just before a shadow drops over him, and has a heartbeat to look up before a white furry mass blocks out much of the world.
"Woof!"
oooo
When he arrives, the air is thick, yet nothing like what he knows killing intent is like. From long practice, he knows better than to let his eyes drift, so he keeps them locked on the agitated, pacing blond.
As he slumps his way forward, Shikamaru knows without looking who it is that is noisily chewing. He hears the dry crinkle of an ever-present potato chip bag and that is all he needs to locate the fellow sitting unseen, likely cross-legged on the tile floor around the corner. Automatically, Shika shuffles along with his hands deep in his pockets and, at a certain point, he turns and settles his back against the wall. A heartbeat later, he lets out a breath, and, like a deflating balloon, slides down to the floor as well. He lazily crosses his legs in a similar manner as he hunkers down beside his rather, uh, rather big boned, teammate and best friend, Choji.
Shika doesn't feel the weight of Choji's gaze, and his friend doesn't shift his massive form to acknowledge his presence. He doesn't have to. He knows Choji, and his friend would wisely choose not to shift his eyes his way in a delicate situation such as this. Instead, he would be observing the blond's behavior like a true nin.
He hears Choji swallow down his nervousness in the silence.
The pacing blond's name is Ino. She is, well, a woman, and women have ever been a great bother. In his experience, they are ever unpredictable-- volatile-- especially when someone they deeply care for is seriously hurt.
He knows she is a trained mednin, but she is far too personally involved with a particular patient. She would be highly likely to make many deadly medical mistakes due to her current emotional-- maelstrom. It was a highly logical, professional decision to remove her from this duty, and, considering the patient in question just happens to be Ino's father, Shika considers the policy a wise one.
He knows Ino would not agree at very high volumes, which would only serve to distract the other mednins.
He holds his silence as he watches the troublesome slim body pace the hall, carefully observing every twitch of muscle with trained ease. The tenseness of her shoulders alone tells him much of her current mood. Her high ponytail swishes with each harried turn, but, for now, she merely worries her lower lip with her teeth as her blue eyes constantly dart towards a certain closed doors nearby. There is no mystery why her face is twisted up with a noxious mixture of frustration and worry.
Those doors have sign above the jamb, announcing the room beyond as "Intensive Care". An eerie green blue glow flickers like candlelight through the tiny glass window nestled in the wood, and indicate that the mednins are currently treating the patient. As in the other times he has been in the hospital, he knows precious little.
Not wishing to agitate Ino any further with bothersome questions, he instead leans his head towards Choji, and whispers.
"Any news?"
Choji shakes his rotund head slightly, choosing to also honor the silence. Shikamaru frowns, and then quickly schools his face into a semblance of unreadable blankness as Ino turns his way. He isn't sure how successful he is, but as her eyes slide off him, he doesn't bother to wonder further. No, Instead, he narrows his eyes as blue colored lightening dances down the hall from beneath a particular door.
He flinches back as ominous rumble fills his ears, sounding quite thunderous, and takes in a startled breath as many sandaled feet pound the previously tranquil tiles about him. His brows nearly meet when in the sudden crowd of bodies, he feels a hand lifting up his biceps. He darts his eyes to the invasive grip as he rises to his feet .
A pair of jagged red fangs frames the savage smile that greets him, and it takes all of a second for him to recognize the nin that sports them: Kiba Inusuka.
"Come on lazy bones!" The wild haired nin growls, and tugs the band at his forehead down with his claw like fingernails. The joint army plate shines like a new thing, for it was just issued that morning. Shika hadn't bothered to put the drag of a thing on-- yet.
Shika stumbles and glances at a blur of white on four legs as Kiba's beastly partner, Akamaru, rushes by, nudging against his legs in his rush to get to the source of the disturbance. A heartbeat later, Kiba lunges gleefully after, nearly scrambling on all fours like a dog.
Shikamaru blinks dumbly at the nin's sheer eagerness. But then, he supposes, that's Kiba.
"What a drag." Shikamaru grumbles, and stumbles again as a meaty hand slaps heavily against his upper back. Choji graces him with a sidelong glance, then crumbles up his empty bag of chips.
"So. That's where...?"
"Yeah." Shika answers. "Looks like it."
Shika watches Choji turn away and lumber after the crowd. He hears a door bang open, and much shouting as he looks around. That's when he notices that his female teammate is no longer pacing.
Ino is just. Gone.
ooooo
Ed slaps his palms together an instant before he has them on the ground, where he quickly finds a sort of precarious balance to swing his false left leg at the huge white mass of fur. He misses, but the wild swing has the desired effect: the beast lunges away from the edge of the bed and ducks its head down to snap and snarl in his general direction. As Ed pushes off the ground and regains his feet, he reaches out at the metal frame of the bed. The discharge flashes as the quick and dirty equation takes effect-- reforming the rail into a stout staff. Ed tests its weight between both hands as he sees the beast watch him with wary brown eyes.
Ed hears voices around him: One or two seem to be "egging" in tone, but Ed isn't sure what exactly is said. Gibberish slips completely from his grasp, for at the moment, he has far more important things on his mind than understanding the stupid language.
The lumbering dog is huge, easily the size a.. a lion, and Ed swallows as he recognizes the familiar, but ultimately doomed beast somehow conjured up from the nightmare in his past. He feels his throat tighten, and barely whispers a weak, "Alexander..." as someone calls out, "Akamaru!"
When a view of Kakashi's back cuts the big dog out of the world, Ed knows he is staring. He also remembers to breathe. He hears the man's commanding tone, likely directed at the others crowded at the door, and takes the opportunity to shuffle his back against the wall.
He feels his arms tremble, and grips the staff tighter as a dark haired boy with a pair of red triangles painted on his cheeks leaps into view. He is thankful he doesn't recognize the face glaring his way, and as the boy snarls a choice phrase at Kakashi, darts his eyes to others. There is a sea of shining head plates, and many angry expressions directed his way.
One girl in particular extends her arms towards him, cupping and entwined her fingers together. Her long blond hair is tied up into a high pony tail, and her watery blue eyes regard him hatefully as tears trace tracks down her cheeks. He swallows his bile, finding her pose strange, but by long habit he braces himself. He knows in his heart he deserves whatever she plans to hit him with, for there is no doubt who she is.
He can never deny her a thing, especially since he is sure he caused her tears in the first place. The metal staff slips from his slack fingers, and he hears the metal ring when it strikes against the tile at his feet.
"Winry."

Sent via a stray supercharged nano particle of unobtainium....