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....