chapter 24ish

Ed turns and paces, moving much like a starved cat with every harried turn. He mulls over the recent events. It was fortunate that he stared Sakura down until she let his wrists go, and as he shook out his hands to release the circulating energy, he finds himself thankful not to have dripping blood on his hands as a result. The equation in his mind at the time would have left little of her, for the effort to speak Gibberish would have broken his concentration he needed to control the flow of energy; he suspects that not even a smoking corpse would have remained of her on the tiled floor.
A breath later Sakura had the gall to suggest that he should take it easy, and Ed recalls thinking he should never, ever trust anyone with that damned hunk of metal bolted to a piece of cloth. He knew damn well it's all her fault he's stuck here, and immediately demanded to be taken to the site that he was found at.

"Rescued", they called it. Ha. Ha. Funny that.

He wasn't completely sure he had gotten the words right, but the woman called the Hokage said something that sounded like she must consult with the guy he knew as "Scarface" before she could even bother to find the map of location. She smoothly introduced the gray haired, and mostly masked fellow that Ed currently choses to ignore: one Kakashi Hatake.
"Why is he here?" Ed demanded.
"You have seals on you." Sakura said in a tone which clearly suggested that he had the intelligence of a knat. He looked her way and had to tilt his head up slightly to meet her gaze.
Ed narrowed his eyes, not liking the slight to his stature her look suggested.
"So." He spat out in Gibberish., voice full of rightous bile.
"We think they're doing something to your body." The Hokage said smooth as silk, and Ed glowered up her way.
"You mean marks." Ed pulled up a sleeve, then waved his palm over the scribbles and waves tattooed on his skin. He followed that up with a deft wave over the ones marring his living leg. "They do nothing. Those that had me put them on me. They stupid."
"They're doing something to your chakra.." Sakura said with slow care. "When I touched you I disrupted the flow and you.."

Ed huffed with a dismissive wave at the ridiculous belief, and a shook his head. He then glared Sakura's way.
"You touch me. Yes." He said, and pointed at the large jars on the wall. "Liquid on skin. You fingers. Knock me out. Then you take me here. That. I no like."

He didn't miss the look that passed between Sakura and the masked Kakashi, one that has Sakura's face contorted even now with concern, incredulousness and worry.

Ed makes sure to lower his brows as he turns about, recalling the Hokage taking Scarface by the elbow. That reminds him that the woman left the Kakashi guy behind in the room.

Ed flicks his gaze over. The man's back leans lazily in a plain wooden chair: He is sloppy for an interrigator, sprawling much like a sack of potatoes with a tiny book perching in his gloved hand. Kakashi calmly turns a page, the one visible eye on his covered face seems entirely engrossed in the clearly questionable material. The mannerism is familiar: He finds himself vaguely reminded of Jean Havoc, and forces his eyes violently away before he can find anything more.

That's when Ed notices Sakura's staring sea-colored eyes.

"What." He snaps at Sakura as he turns once more to pace.
"Sit down."
"No. No sick."
"You're certainly not well. Sit."
"No. I pay no more. I go." He makes it a point to sweep his way towards the door.
"No you don't I..!"
"Sakura-kun." Kakashi interrupts in a maddening calm voice than makes Ed pause his rant.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Let him be." Ed's brows rise to his hairline, and he takes in a large breath. Sakura turns and snarls out.
"What?"
"Recall the reports. Ed-kun was a slave." Kakashi says with a maddenly calm tone.
"I don't need you defending me you fukken ass…!" Ed yells out explosively, then scowls as he realizes he's speaking Amestrian instead of Gibberish. He takes in a breath as he reaches for the words, but before he can say anything remotely understandable, he hears the masked man continue.
"If you really want to be like the scum that held him, then you may as well put chains back on his wrists right now and call it a day."
Ed shoots a fiery glare. Sakura turns away in a huff, and as Ed reaches to turn the round bit of a doorknob, she speaks coldly over her shoulder.
"Step out that door, and you're very likely to collapse after a few steps. As it is, your chakra is so low, I don't know how you're even breathing."
Ed hesitates at those words, noting this is not the first time he has heard them uttered. He then lets out a huff of air.
The phrase "A man called Alphonse.." filters through the wood, spoken by a deeper voice in the hall.
He recalls "Man" is not an entirely different word than "boy" in this Gibberish, and the exact meaning hangs quite loosely, depending upon how one uses it.
His nostrils flare as he realizes his mistake, and he bangs the meat of his fist soldily against the wall. Once. And half-heartedly, twice. He then turns about and leans casually against the wall, folding his far too skinny arms across his chest. He feels Kakashi's gaze sweep over him.
He knows well that he is too eager for any news of his brother, and swallows he rolls the one sleeve down back into place. He supposes he doesn't have anywhere to go in such a hurry, especially since it's clear that Scarface told him exactly what he wanted to hear.

Like any good interrogator would to get useful information-- he learned that much from Hughes.

He reminds himself pointedly to never trust nins, and ignores the nagging ache in his gut to leave. He tells himself that he has to learn all he can of their ways.
For Al's sake.
Minutes pass in silence.

Sakura doesn't quite smile his way as she breaks it with a nervous voice, chattering along too quickly for him. His eyes glaze away from the matter at hand, and he supposes she's filling the Kakashi in on all events Edward thus far when he hears several mentions of his name. He frowns as he barely catches a word.

"Must be a kekkei genkai." Kakashi quips as he turns the page of his book, one visible eye never wandering away.
Ed glares at the masked man.
"A what?"
Kakashi waves to the bed without looking up. Ed makes it a point to keep standing.
"You say word. What…kekey gen.."
"Strange, the Hokage indicated you were quite fluent. I have no idea why you would choose to speak the way you do."
Ed keeps his face stony.
"I..pay." Ed watches the movement of the cloth covering the man's face, and supposes an eyebrow raises in question. "I tell more. If. You tell me of key key den.."
"Say it with me: Kekkei genkai." Kakashi says, leaning his chair's back further against the wall, still not raising his gaze.
Ed tastes the word and directs his glare to the tiled floor. The hard accents take several tries to get somewhat correct.
"He told Ibiki a week." Sakura sighs and sits on the bed's corner by the low nightstand. "He sounds completely different than what I heard, too."
Eye-beak-ee? Ed thinks with a scowl, wondering at the weirdness of the name..
"A week to learn an entire language. I suppose that is a feat that some would call impressive…"
"We deal?" Ed growls from his wall, and snaps his gaze back up to look through the curtain of his bangs.
Kakashi sighs and closes his book with a snap. He then leans forward and rests his elbows on his thighs.
"Kekkei genkai: Simple enough of an explanation, really. They are very rare things for a person to have. Perhaps it is the very reason that the Akatsuki bought you. It's a thing that tends to run in families. Does this sound in any way familiar to you..?"
Ed frowns, then nods slightly.
"Good." Kakashi says. "Before I say anymore, I would like to take a look at the seals that are on..."
"No." Ed says,"If is by blood, this kekkei genkai not thing I need to know. What else you got?"
An embarrassing gurgle echoes in the room, and Ed slumps as he shifts his elbows slightly downward.
"Uh.. How about lunch then..?"

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

Fma-naruto crossover chapter 23

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....

Fma-naruto crossover chapter 22 continued...

The door clicks nearly silently behind Hinata as she emerges from the restroom, and Shika slides his gaze away from her blushing pale face to allow her more time to compose herself.

"..and Shizune determined there is nothing inherently wrong with the rice or the bowl. With that drag of a violent reaction, either he's allergic to chakra boosters or to, um, well, rice." Shika says, completing the report as he had heard it.

"So we tossed out that entire batch of food for... nothing?" Sakura says, folding her arms thoughtfully as she directs her gaze to the door.

"It was a good precaution to take. We determined that we have no sabotage by the enemy. Also, the investigation showed that no one attempted to take his life. Considering what we do know of him, of his extended time in Suna, that is good news to hear." Shikamaru says.

Sakura narrows her eyes and looks to Hinata.

"How is he?" Hinata's pale white eyes flick her way. Shikamaru frowns and wonders if his plan to send her in first was such a wise one.

"Ed-sama.. H-he's..Um. H-he doesn't wish to go to the h-hospital." Hinata looks his way. "H-he didn't d-do anything while I was in t-there but..uh..."

"Is he sitting by the toilet?" Sakura presses softly, and is rewarded with a shy little nod. The veins on the sides of Hinata's temples bulge from her extended use of her Byakuban, proving that she sees what is currently beyond the closed door quite clearly. "Good, then this is still a medical matter, and not for Investigations. Shika, could you give me some room?"

Shika does his best lazy yawn and slouches his hands into his pockets. As he leans one shoulder against the far wall, he hears Sakura's sharp knock echoing on the rest room door.

"Fuk off" Ed's ragged voice rasps from beyond the wooden plank. Shika shakes his head and looks off to the side, searching for a cloud to watch.

"H-he really s-should be examined the w-ward, like Mr.Y-yamanaka is now."

"I know." Shika widens his eyes at the unexpected arrival of the Hokage herself. Sakura darts her eyes to Tsunade's and immediately steps back into a respectful bow with both hands clasped together. Tsunade sweeps by as if ignoring her presence and folds her arms as she faces the closed door. She takes in a deep breath, which serves enhance her ample bosom, and speaks with a tone of great authority.

Only Shika finds he can't understand a single word she says.

It's as if he's listening to.. Ah. Now he gets it. Of course. She must have come from examining Inoichi, and he either implanted the language in her brain, which he imagines would be a bothersome pain, or, (This would be an awkward drag if so) he told her exactly what to say and had her practice it to perfection.

Shika lowers his brows slightly as she finishes the Nonsense, and silence fills the air. For several heartbeats, she turns her gaze to Shika, and turns back only when the knob jiggles. He notes that Tsunade doesn't appear to be in pain, and is well aware that her significant medical skills would mask any signs of mental distress.

The door creaks open.

Bruised golden orbs burn them all from within sunken pale cheeks. Enveloped in far too much cloth, the rail thin young man shambles out and painfully reminds Shika much of Choji's nearly fatal visit to the hospital ward.

"Chakra exhaustion. Before the war has even begun, We have chakra exhaustion." The Hokage mutters softly as if to herself.

Shika darts his eyes to Sakura and Hinata, and sees them share a startled glance. They didn't miss the weighty lesson their teacher was giving them this very moment, of what signs to look for in a nin for the coming days in the medical core. If not for the shiny metallic left leg, Shika rather thought Ed resembled a walking corpse having a good day.

He watches Ed's gaze flare with a mixture of recognition and deep suspicion as he looks them over.

"Have we met?" Tsunade says slowly.

"No." Ed rasps, and swallows as he does not quite look away from the amble bosom of the woman before him. "You very like someone."

"And me?"

Ed darts his gaze to Sakura, and Shika sees a faint fluttering of expressions as he looks away.

"Not one I trust." He says steadily, glare fixed pointedly upon Tsunade's face. "You want thing I know. Pay fair? Yes?"

Tsunade nods, then turns to Sakura.

After Sakura introduces the Hokage, herself, and Hinata, Tsunade breaths in to speak again.

"You said word I not know." Ed interrupts with a raised index finger. The gesture shows off the many seals on the pale skin of his arm.

"Huh?" The Hokage says wisely.

"Then I open." Ed gestures to the door. "I learn you speak word."

"Uh. W-what word?"

"Chakra." Ed says, and skews his brows. "What "chakra"?"

"..you're really not a nin." Sakura says with a chuckle.

"No." Ed lowers his brows.

Tsunade looks at him with narrowed eyes.

"Then tell me why you wish to see a sealing so much?"

Ed folds his own arms as he lifts his chin with a straight spine. Shika smirks as he sees the cloth of the borrowed outer shirt flop nearly to his knees; the overall effect making the blond appear ever smaller amongst the slightly taller women.

"Reasons." Ed grinds out. Shika notices a vein throbbing at his temple.

"Very well." Tsunade looks over at Sakura. "This is done with my full authority as Hokage of Konohagakure. Show him exactly how a person is sealed."

ooooo

"This no harm this person?" Ed asks in Gibberish as he points to a guard standing in the very center of a large scribble placed on the floor. The guard rolls his eyes and begins examining his fingernails.

"No. Neither of them will be hurt." The girl called Sakura says with a wide faked smile on her face. "Now will you just..?"

Ed darts his eyes her way, swallows with a deep frown. He steps back with great reluctance and sweeps his gaze over the design, studying it.

Another nin stands across from them both, and bring his hands together. The fingers are a blur of movement, and Ed feels the little hairs on base of his skull rise.

He tries not to think of the long ago basement experiment, or the massive wave of blood seeping into neatly balanced chalk lines. He grips his left thigh as he feels the throb of remembered pain, and equation after equation flowing forth unbidden from his memory.

The nin lunges down suddenly and smacks his palm onto the floor. Ed feel a faint buzzing in his bones as the room fills with a burst of white smoke.

"There." Sakura says with a false cheer. "A real sealing."

"Yeah." Ed manages, watching the smoke swirl. He turns his widened gaze to the girl, and frowns.

"Listen. I'm sorry that they choose to deceive you with the switching technique and an lousy illusion, but..."

"Bring! Him! Back!" Ed snaps his eyes back into the haze.

Sakura stops talking so fast, her smacks uselessly closed. She lets out a breath of air, and says. "Do it."

A burst of smoke follows another set of waving fingers. Ed doesn't wait for the bored guard to walk off design before he grabs the man's chin and examines his general condition with his own eyes. The man nearly snarls as he pushes him away, but Ed is grinning as he stumbles back. At the side of the scribble, he impulsively waves his right hand over the great mark. The entire thing glows faintly gold in response, and he hears several gasps of surprise.

His smile fades as he looks to the pink haired girl, who offers up a frail grin.

"Is trick, right?" Ed says in Gibberish.

Her brows lower as her face pinches in confusion.

"Is trick of eyes. You show me what I want to see." Ed says, trying to clarify with his limited mastery of the stupid language. "Like that Kankuro. Tricks and tricks and.."

She shakes her head.

"It's real." She says, and adds. "Oh! I can show you how to tell but..."

Ed narrows his eyes.

"I'll show you, ok? I might get in trouble for it, but it's simple enough that it's not really much of a secret."

Sakura brings her hands together much like the other nin had. Ed darts his eyes to that side of the room and sees the nin slouching against the wall, seemingly glaring daggers at the guard.

"It's a technique we nins use to break ourselves out of the illusion cast by others like us." Sakura continues, "Kai!"

"Kai?" Ed says, and shakes his head. "Say word and..?" Ed waves his hand in a lazy circle.

"More than that actually. You disrupt the flow of your chakra at the same time." Ed lowers his brows.

"It's like waking from a dream." She simplifies and raises her palms. "You do not have the skill I do, I guess. So, um. Shall I..?"

She steps closer, and nearly places her palms on either side of his chest. He steps back with a disbelieving frown.

"What?" He says, chuckling nervously.

"I'm just going to disrupt the flow of your chakra." She says. "That way you know this is real, ok?"

Ed stares at her sea green eyes, seeing in her a faith, no, a confidence, which is only brought about by learning a skill. It is so very different in nature than the misguided Rose of Liore. He swallows down the bitter pill that this "chakra" nonsense may be as much about faith as it is about a technique of an unknown science.

He's is an Alchemist, and wells knows that true Alchemy is a science which emphasizes one must experience all that life has to offer.

With that thought, he stands solidly, and nods to give his permission. Even through the cloth of the massive borrowed shirt, her palms are quite warm.

He hears her cry of "kai!" before the world completely shatters.
ooooo

Tsunade strides into the room and immediately knows where to go. She begins pushing her way past the many nins clustered in the small place, and wonders just how so many can be so idle at a time like this.

"All of you clear out of here. Now." She orders, "Go to your posts!"

Some begin moving off, and other stubbornly remain. She turns her glare at them and allows her killing intent to rise.

"T-this is my post." One nin stammers. "I-I'm in Intelligence..." The others nod even as they back from her presence warily.

"This is a Medical matter. Now. Get. Out." She says, and doesn't bother to note their passing as she turns her attention to the matter at hand.

The boy she saw earlier stands so solidly still he may as well be made of metal, and the only movement she sees is the steady twitching of his lips. Her student, Sakura, is on the ground, hands shaking, and as she looks her way, she lowers them limply to her lap. She shakes her head as she says, "Tsunade-sama.."

"What happened." A statement of a demand rather than a question of any sort.

Sakura swallows as she begins. "I just disrupted his chakra and this.." She lifts the draping cloth of the over large shirt just enough to expose the skin.

The dark march of the many seals she glimpsed in the hall is readily apparent, and she lowers her brows at the disturbing sight.

"W-what's it doing..?"

"Shh..!" Tsunade hisses and turns her attention to the only other movement on the boy's body. His voice is hoarse and so wispy, she brings her ear close.

She widens her eyes in horror at what she hears. She shakes her head as she steps back to gaze at the unseeing golden eyes. She snaps her fingers, the noise echoing loudly in the near empty room, but the boy doesn't so much as blink.

"Disrupt his chakra." Sakura obeys without question.

"Kai!"

Tsunade dives to catch the boy as he collapses into a boneless heap. She grabs one of his limp wrists and looks closely at the seals, now sedate on the too pale skin. At length, she slides her eyes towards her student.

"We need a seal specialist to look these over right away." Tsunade says. "I think I know what the Akatsuki bought him for."

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

Fma-naruto crossover chapter 22

If there is one thing in the world he hates, it's hospitals.

He feels a cool hand rub his upper back and jerks his shoulders free from the invasive touch. The pale eyed girl moves shyly away, and he doesn't miss the fact that the veins bulge rather large at the sides of her head. Her brows rise as she lifts a glass of what looks to be water his way. He eyes the glass, but turns away to lean his forehead back on the cool curve of the toilet bowl.

"E-ed-s-sama..." The girl stammers again, and Ed weakly shakes his head in answer to her unspoken request.

"No." Ed breathes in Gibberish. "No hospitals." He scowls as he grips his stomach, and dreading returning to the next room.

This's all their fault anyway, he thinks.

ooooo

Ed scowls at the sandals which do nothing to hide his automail leg from view. It's as good an excuse as any to keep from seeing the many curious and pity filled faces that flow past him as he is lead along the plain dull corridor. The borrowed clothes he is dressed in feel baggy, over large, and generally ill-fitting. He certainly despises the color of them, and a surprising portion of him greatly misses the heft of his recently recovered pocket watch.

He wonders whatever became of the bloody thing as he gazes blandly toward Inoichi's pinched, pain filled face. He watches the man open one of the many identical doors and waves him inside with a heavy hand. He doesn't bother to listen to the name as the man says, introducing him to the tower of a fellow lounging in a chair within the equally bland room; instead he discreetly darts his eyes about as the chair he is clearly expected to squirm in is pulled out from the plain wooden table. He is unsurprised to see several more people standing about with the nin plates on their headbands, and he certainly is not introduced to them.

After all. Who really needs to know the name of their guards?

The towering freak folds his arms as Inoichi speaks too quickly for Ed to follow in Gibberish, and Ed pretends not to stare at the several long slashing scars running across his displeased face. The man replies just as quickly, and nods towards one of guards.

A sheet a paper is grandly produced, placed neatly just out of reach on the table, and something incomprehensible is scribbled upon it. He watches with hooded eyes as a jug filled with some sort of sloshing liquid is carefully plunked down on the ink. A loud cry and slap of palms later,
Ed waves the smoke clear of his eyes with a stony face.

The paper with the scribble on it sits on its lonely end of the bland table. Jug of liquid gone.

He leans forward, intending to wave his fingers over the symbol as a test, but goons on either side of him grab his shoulders. He abandons the tactic immediately, and, feigning an incorrigible struggle against the hammy hands on his arms, kicks his living foot out into the general area beneath. He figures he should be able to trigger something with his reaching toes, or at least find where the jug fell.

He frowns when he finds nothing but the stir of air. Instead of a faint glowing hum of the most basic of alchemic reactions, the ink on the paper remains a flat sheet of failed childish scribbles.

"There you go." He hears Inoichi say, as if translating what Scarface says. "What do you know of the Akatsuki?"

"They like to wear shower curtains." Ed replies flatly, staring at the spot on the table.

He hears someone let out a huff of air. A faint sparkle of light catches his attention, and with a flick of his eyes, he sees that, pinched between his massive forefinger and thumb, Scarface holds a diamond. He watches the man slowly lower the gem to the table, placing it just-so in the very middle.

At that moment, Ed's belly roars, and he presses his hand hard to his middle as if to restrain it from attacking anyone. He hears stifled chuckles erupt around him, and grimaces his irritation. Inoichi. speaks Gibberish too quickly again, and stops, almost like he was swallowing back his words.

The room is achingly silent.

Ed hears a dribbling something splatter like rain drops against the surface of the bland wooden table, and his gaze widens as he recognizes that the red substance dripping down and splashing about is certainly not composed of water. He darts his gaze to the source, and sees Inoichi holding his hand to his freely drippling nose.

The man squeezes his eyes shut as he swoons back, and Ed instinctively lunges up, intending to catch him. He takes in a breath as he sees the man's light hair is matted an ugly sort of pink by his ears. Before he can get very far, many hands attempt to force him back into the stupid chair.

He watches Scarface grip the fallen Inoichi in his beefy arms before the man hits the ground. Someone calls for a med nin as Ed meets and holds the man's cold beady eyes.

"Oh no!" A girl breathes, forcing Ed to break the useless stare down.

Ed looks over and feels his knees weaken. He flops into his seat as a girl with pink hair rushes by. He watches owlishly as her fingers glow like fire, pads lightly touching various spots on Inoichi's neck and temples.

"I'm sorry Mr. Inoichi, you really need to rest." Ed hears in Gibberish, and the girl rambles on further so fast that he can't follow what is said. He forces his eyes from her too familiar face, telling himself that she is a stranger no matter who she so strongly resembles.

She obviously is not from Liore. She certainly is not Rose. He sees Scarface frown at him, and directs his gaze elsewhere.

"Can't." The blond man breathes.

Ed's belly roars again, and he grimaces. The noise has Not!Rose looking his way with sea green eyes, which are certainly not the shade of brown he knows Rose possessed. She works with great confidence on Inoichi, and hands steady and face composed. She eyes the men standing about, surrounding her and frowns.

Several heartbeats pass, and with something of a growl, she calls out to the door. "Hinata-san!"

A girl with pupil-less white eyes pokes her head in. Ed suspects she is blind until her eyes move in such a way that he knows she is not. (Mustang's hadn't moved like that after being blinded on his forced trip through the Gate.) He finds it eerie, that seeing look with those unseeing eyes.

Without a single prompt, she looks right at him, almost as if looking through him, and asks something that sounds like rice and bowl after several stuttering attempts.

Ed mouth is dry as he nods.

He supposes he responded correctly, because the girl soon returns with a bowl that smells somehow off and delicious at the same time.

He glares at no one as he fumbles with the pair of stupid sticks stuck in the rice clumps, but manages to scoop in a mouthful of the stuff after a few tries. He ignores the amused smirks he sees as chews.

Inoichi is propped against the far wall, and waves off Not!Rose's attempts at forcing him to his feet. Beside him leans Scarface, face set in a stony frown as he speaks. It takes several moments, but he makes out the gist of what Scarface mutters in a low voice towards the fallen blond.

"We're getting nowhere with this. We'll need to probe his mind again."

Again?!

Ed angrily bangs the table with both fists, and turns his best glare to Inoichi. He recalls the recent, out-of-place, glimpses of a long flowing blond pony tails in his memories, and feels his stomach begin to churn.

"You. Were in my head!?" Ed yells out, and Inoichi cracks his eyes open.

"Yes."

Ed wrinkles his nose in disgust and shoves the bowl aside as his stomach tap dances about the thought of anyone traipsing about in his mind. "You have no right to..to violate my privacy..!"

"I told you. It was necessary. We are at war. I suspect this..." Inoichi gestures a hand weakly at his head, nose and ears still dripping blood. "..is a result of what I ran into while squeezing in. We needed to be able to speak with you clearly, and quickly. I had no choice but to master your strange language."

"You deserve what you got you son of a.. " The grumble is weak in his ears, but the sudden sinking of his middle is certainly not. He swallows the off taste lingering on his tongue, and the medicine tinge reminds of his extended time in hospital. He looks to the still mostly full bowl sitting innocently to the side, and looses his fingers. The stupid sticks clatter noisily onto the flat surface. He vaguely wonders of the dish's specific ingredients, for if he judges by his intestines' dramatic reaction, he believes he's found something he is allergic to.

Besides certain mushrooms, that is.

"..Even with able assistance, there's not much room to maneuver. Your head is crammed to the brim with.. Knowledge. Dangerous knowledge."

"..None of which concerns any of you." Ed snaps heatedly, wrapping his bubbling belly with both arms. He squeezes his eyes shut, willing the food he just downed to stay the shit down.

"That is something for us to determine." Inoichi says with a drawn out breath. "Now, back to the gem. What can you tell us of.."

Ed shakes his head slowly.

"No more. Not equivalent." Ed squeaks as he opens his eyes, looking pointedly at the slip of paper beyond his reach. "We are adults. You showed me what amounts to only a simple parlor trick."

Inoichi's face twists into a scowl, and by the gasps he hears, Ed knows the man doesn't dare say he's wrong.

"Apparently "cooperation" is another word that doesn't translate.." Inoichi states rather flatly.

ooooo
To be continued...

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