Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Return ❯ Discussions ( Chapter 2 )

“Inuyasha, I understand that while you are right in not trusting them immediately, we still need their help.” Miroku said, leaning against a large tree in an attempt to think. “We are in a strange world; we have no idea how to go home, and no idea how to survive here. As much as it pains you to admit, you know this.” He looked over at Kagome, who was pointedly ignoring the strangers. “Kagome, understanding works both ways. Sango and I were the same way when we met Inuyasha, but we became friends and eventually family. Trust is earned, but you have to give them a chance to earn it.”

Both sighed, and reluctantly agreed with the level headed monk. It was about four or five hours past the time Kagome had woken up and a few less when the others had woken up. Shippo and Kirara had only been awake for an hour now, and both were weak and nauseous. Edward and Alphonse had brought forth more water and a small amount of hiking fare. Both had been accepted with grace by the slayer and the monk, Inuyasha and Kagome both too angry to do more than glare at the two.

“Keh.” Inuyasha crushed a small rock in his fist, and then slapped the dust from his hands. “Decide something soon bouzo; night's coming and I don't wanna be out in the open.”

“Maybe our friends can offer us a place to sleep for the night, or we can find a village. I don't think staying in one place is going to help us get home any faster.” Miroku turned to Sango. “What do you think koi?”

“Miroku's right. Our best chance so far rests with them. That means you, Inuyasha, need to be nice.” Sango shook a finger at him, rolling her eyes when he snarled at her. “I mean it. We don't need enemies right now, we need friends.”

“As long as they keep their opinions to themselves, we'll get along just fine.” Kagome snapped, still peeved from their earlier confrontation.

“Keh, I don't like them. How did they know we were up here in the first place? How do we know that they are actually here to help?” Inuyasha's instincts had gotten him this far in life, and he didn't trust just anyone. Humans on a whole were liars and greedy murderers. It would take a lot more than pretty words of apology to earn any amount of trust from the group.

“If we are to leave, we need to do it soon.” Ed added, now deciding to interrupt. He and his brother had been waiting patiently for awhile now for the group to conclude their talking, but with the sun hitting the far peak, Ed knew that if they wanted to get down the mountain side before dark they would have to leave soon. However, he did not foresee exactly how they planned to travel.

“Where exactly would we be going runt?” Inuyasha had so far refused to say his name, or that of his brother.

“To Winry's house, where we are staying.” Alphonse cut in, directing everyone's attention from the height comment.

“Who is this Winry?” Sango asked, deciding that this boy would be the best one to talk to. The older one, Edward, reminded Sango too much of a shorter Inuyasha to ensure a calm conversation. He also seemed sensitive about his height.

“A friend of ours from way back. She and Grandma Pinako won't mind putting you up for awhile if you don't cause any trouble.” This comment was thrown in Inuyasha's direction, which was ignored as he studied his claws.

“We will be on our best behavior, we promise.” Miroku assured them, knowing Inuyasha wouldn't do anything unless provoked.

“Well then, we might as well go. After supper, we can talk more about what's going on.” Edward swung an arm in the direction of home. “Down the mountain, no more than two hours walk.”

Right then the Inu-gang noticed a problem. They had walked up the mountain, and while heading down one wouldn't take as long or as much effort, the two humans had no hope of keeping up with two running youkai. Kagome would take her customary place on Inuyasha's back and the rest would ride Kirara when they had to travel. Walking had never been an effective way to travel great distances. But with the two others, they wouldn't have a choice but to walk. Shippo was still getting used to using his kitsune magic to transform for longer periods of time, and while he was getting better at it, no body wanted to chance a ride down a steep incline if they could avoid it.

“Well shit.” Inuyasha, not as dense as he appeared, had also noticed the problem. “Kirara, how many can you carry?” Meorw. “Three, maybe? I guess I can carry two, if they're light enough.” Turning to size up the brothers, who didn't have a clue what he was talking about, he narrowed his eyes. “How much does the metal in your arm and leg weigh?”

(I have no real clue, I'm making this up.) “15, 20lbs each I think, why?” Ed hazarded, watching as the hanyou circled first him, and then his brother. No threat was in is posture, and neither did his friends seem worried. They, at least, had some clue in what he was saying.

“Feh.” Rubbing his nose in his sleeve, Inuyasha decided he did not like the smell of his fake limbs. “Kirara won't be able to carry you, guess I have to.”

“Excuse me?” Edward leveled a glare at him. “Carry me? Where and why?”

“I ain't wasting two hours going down a mountain when it'll only take me and Kirara one, maybe. The only reason I'm including you in the first place is because Miroku says we need you.” He smirked. “Otherwise I'd leave you here to walk down at your own pace shorty.”

Glowering, but decided to ignore the insult as best he could, Edward pointed to Kirara. “Even if you could carry me down the mountain, the cat wouldn't have a chance in hell of carrying three grown people anywhere.”

Chirping, Kirara pranced to his feet. She did not like the insinuation of weakness this strange little kit was giving, but she knew how to correct it. Stopping a few feet away from him, she erupted in a burst of flames and transformed into her larger self. Giving him a small roar, she looked over at the smug hanyou. `You carry him dog, I don't want to smell like oil.'

Snickering at both her words and the dumbstruck humans, he turned to Kagome. “I guess I'll be carrying your ass too huh wench?”

“Inuyasha…” She warned, and his laughter vanished.

“How—how did she do that?” Alphonse approached the cat, and what seemed to be a few flames still flickering on her paws and twin tails.

“It's her youkai, she's a fire cat.” Sango explained, laying a hand on her neck. Following her example, Alphonse began to pet, and then examine Kirara in interest.

“I can transform too, see?” Shippo, always wanting to make friends and show off, bounded into the center before transforming into his seagull shape, and then his horse shape. Bounding back into his normal form, he blushed when he found he was the center of attention and jumped up to Miroku's shoulder.

“How about you Inuyasha? Can you transform too?” Edward asked, looking dead center into the hanyou's eyes.

His face darkened instantly, his mouth pressing into a thin line. Gold eyes flashed, and he gave a sharp bark. “That isn't something you ever want to see.” His ears flickered madly, and his shoulders slumped forward to throw off imaginary attacks. Reaching a hand up, he touched the string of beads on his neck. “Trust me.”

Edward and Alphonse shared a look, but didn't touch the subject as they argued about travel arrangements. They missed the gentle hand that batted the hanyou's own off the beads and caressed his cheek. Kagome raised on her tip toes to kiss him lovingly on the lips. Meeting his self-loathing eyes, she did her best to dispel his monsters like he did everyday for her. Briefly, Inuyasha closed his eyes, leaning into her hand to absorb the comfort she offered, soaking it up to drive away the day's events.

. . .

They had traveled halfway down the mountain before Inuyasha came to a stop, sniffing the air carefully. Kirara flew above him and kept going, not yet noticing that he had stopped. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but the thick trees, while good for jumping through and making the travel easier, made air visibility poor.

With Edward hanging onto his back and Kagome in his arms, Inuyasha could not fight anything that would attack. However, with the absences of youkai scent and aura, Inuyasha had not been overly worried. Now, he was regretting that assumption. “Off.” He grunted to the male and waited until he dismounted before he sat Kagome on her feet. Sniffing the air, he kept himself in front of Kagome as he scented the area. He didn't recognize the scent, not properly. But it smelled like a sick bear or boar, and an unstable with it. If it came across the trio, Inuyasha did not doubt that it would attack. A sick and wounded animal attacked anything out of blind panic and hunger. Wolves were known for attacking humans when they were too sick or old to hunt down faster prey.

It was moving in their direction. If it was either, it would sense them with the wind blowing down the mountain in its direction. With two humans on the ground, Inuyasha wouldn't be able to fight it off without worrying about their safety. Grabbing Kagome, he jumped up into the trees, well out of reach from anything on the ground. Already he could hear it crashing through the underbrush, and the earth trembled noticeably from the weight of its feet.

“Stay here Kagome. Don't make a sound.” He warned, and then headed back down for the other human, who had been watching him momentarily from the ground before he realized the danger he was in. The human might not be a total idiot, Inuyasha decided, as he watched Edward settle into a fighting stance in the direction that the retched smell was coming from. However, no matter how hard the boy fought, Inuyasha had yet to see a human of his age and size stand up to a crazed animal and survive. It could take a village to kill something as weak as a sick wolf because the animal did not feel fear or pain.

Inuyasha made a single mistake though. He underestimated just how fast the approaching animal was, and though he didn't take his time, he didn't go all out either.

He had just touched down at the base of the tree when the animal burst into the small clear area he had stopped at. All of a sudden he felt claustrophobic with the beast in the area no bigger than Kagome's room at best, and it already had two males standing as far away as the clearing would allow.

If they had been in Feudal Japan, Inuyasha would have sworn the thing was a youkai. It stood fifteen feet at the shoulder as it stood on its hind legs and Inuyasha feared that it could reach up and pluck Kagome from her tree branch if he allowed it to get the chance. Ragged brown and black fur molted together, and whole patches had been torn out, wither by its own claws or others he couldn't tell. Dried blood clung to knife like claws, attached to plate sized paws. Its head was thicker and longer than a bear's, and it had boar's tusks and ears protruding from its head. The tusks jutted up like jagged white stones, long and deadly. Beady red eyes tracked them, and Inuyasha felt a small trill of fear before he threw it off. This thing was smart, and looked like it could decapitate him with one swipe, but Inuyasha had taken bigger and better things than some mutated pig.

“It's a chimera.” Edward whispered, but not quietly enough.

Faster then the lumbering mass seemed, it attacked, roaring as it threw itself forward at the small human. Inuyasha gave an answering snarl, and grabbed a hold of the alchemist's waist and barreled him out of the way. The force of his tackle took them out of the way and into a nearby tree. “Can't you stay out of the way?” Out of habit, he reached for Tetsusaiga, but stopped. In close quarters the sword was useless. Well, he would just have to handle this overgrown pig with his claws.

The chimera had been thrown off by the disappearance of its prey momentarily, but it quickly righted itself and searched them back out. Planning to take the unsuspecting pair out while they were still arguing, the chimera charged.

“Inuyasha! Watch out!” Kagome screamed, forgetting Inuyasha's warning about staying quiet. The sudden noise caused the chimera to jerk in her direction, giving the boys a moment to prepare.

“Watch this!” Edward clapped his hands and slapped the ground. Blue lights sparkled, and the ground shivered as a large hand came up out of the ground to slap the beast off track. He gave another clap, this time transmuting his metal hand, giving it a sharp blade on one side.

Inuyasha ignored the weird magic in favor of jumping onto the creature's back, slashing at the thick neck. Blood spurted out, and he gagged. Even the blood smelled diseased. The fur and thick muscles protected the chimera's spine and blood vessels from severe harm so Inuyasha only caused the thing to go even more berserk. Roaring, it slapped at its back, trying to catch the feisty hanyou and throw it to the ground where it could reach it. But with the size of its paws and the lack of fine motor skills, the chimera caught more of its own flesh that Inuyasha's, even as he turned his attention to the face in hopes of catching soft tissue.

Unable to use his attacks for fear of slicing into the surrounding trees and bring them down on top of them, he was left with hand to hand skills. Tearing at the eyes and nose, he avoiding teeth and tusk as he slashed. He could see Edward out of the corner of his eye and hoped the boy would be smart enough to keep out of the way.

“Brother!” “Inuyasha!” Kirara had turned around after noticing there absence and hovered above them, knowing that adding anymore to the fry would just cause more harm than good. That did not stop her passengers from crying down to the ground as they watched a lucky hit from the chimera land Inuyasha upside a tree.

Edward had watched the hanyou attack the chimera, and had figured out a blind spot. The tusks and forward eyes did not allow the creature to see below or behind it as well as its true animal counterparts. Still, there was the problem of getting close enough to attack the soft belly or throat without encountering sharp claws or protective fur. Cutting its feet out from under it would, however, be easy.

Keeping low to the ground, Edward threw himself under the chimera, rolling to avoid one foot slamming into the ground as another swipe missed his head by inches. Swinging backward, Edward felt the muscles of one leg tear, laming the beast so it crumpled to on knee in a bellow of pain and shower of blood. Another swipe took out the muscles in the same thigh. Black blood created a fountain as it rained to the flesh of its enemies and the greenery around it. Acid hissing and cries of muted pain from the alchemist burrowed into ears, but Edward forced it back to rise his knife hand up to cut into the other leg. Landing the hit, more blood flew into the air, burning holes into whatever it landed on.

Inuyasha had a pain in his chest, arms and back, but the fire eating at his left ear was the thing that drove him into the waking world. Brushing at his ear, he smeared the fire into his hands and wrist. “Wha?” A rant of curses that the hanyou had used himself on various occasions, and storing a few away for future use, cut into his reality. Opening gold eyes, Inuyasha got up, stumbled once when he pulled a muscle in his back as the disks snapped into proper alignment, and looked at the scene he had awoken to.

The monster was still going strong, its crippled legs in no way hindering as it slashed with the front paws. The runt blond was fighting it off, but the acid burns and the one thick cut from his shoulder to the chest under the opposite armpit slowed him down considerably. On his own, the runt didn't stand a chance against the foe.

“Oi, bastard!” The insult deflected off the thick fur and did nothing. The alchemist knocked a blow aside only to stumble over a rock. Ignoring the hanyou. That usually didn't go over well.

“I'm talking to you, you great blob of ass!” The tiny black ears swiveled around amidst the blood soaked fur, but no other reaction came from the chimera. “Bastard! Your mother was a pig!”

“Stop yelling,” gasp “insults and,” pant “HELP ME!” Edward had fought with men for many years. Hand to hand combat kept him in shape for the war ridden Germany, and years of running from Nazis had increased his stamina. He had forgotten what it was to fight with alchemy. He had forgotten that chimeras' didn't have human weaknesses like pain. Animals didn't use anything more than instincts and blind fear to attack. He had forgotten how unlucky he was in fighting one.

“Get out of the way baka!” Digging his claws into his side that blood flowed from profusely, Inuyasha swung back, flinging both youkai and blood towards the chimera's back. “Blades of Blood!”

Edward didn't give thought to the action; he just fell into a crouch and summoned up a wall of earth around him. A screech that was not human or animal filled the air, and splattering came from the ceiling of his little dome of stone. After a few minutes, the stone began to dissolve and he gave another clap that formed a small tunnel away from the fallout zone. His head popped up out of the earth a few inches away from Inuyasha's leg.

Turning, he whistled. There was no piece bigger than his hand that had survived whatever attack Inuyasha had thrown at the chimera. A steaming dome fell in on itself as the earth gave into the acid.

“Do all chimeras have acid for blood or is that just a trait that that one decided to pull out its ass?” Inuyasha rubbed his nose, the stench of decay and perversion robbing him of his stomach's ability to hold down his food. Turning to the side, he emptied his stomach, dry heaving a few times before Edward offered him a cloth to put over his nose. It smelled of dense evergreens and blotted out the evil smell long enough for him to stumble out of the way. “Keh.”

“I'm telling the others to get Kagome out of the tree. You need to sit down, your side's messed up pretty bad.” Edward didn't like to feel indebted to this egotistical jerk or to anyone really, but after Inuyasha had pulled his hide out of the fire Edward decided to try to be nice.

“Feh, I'm fine.” Struggling to keep his feet, Inuyasha knew he had lost too much blood even as he denied it. With the energy drain of the portal that had brought them to this backward place, he couldn't afford to lose that much anyway. “Tell Kags to…” he had to close his eyes to keep the vision of dancing trees out. “Tell her to not worry. Be fine in a few hours.”

“Thought you said your fine.” Splat. The silver haired hanyou took a face plant. “He's as bad as I am.” The compliment fell on deaf ears and Edward went to talk to the landing group.

. . .

“You're sure he'll be fine? He lost a lot of blood.” Al helped Kagome and Winry put up the first aide kit. It had taken longer to get down the mountain even with the help of Kirara and Shippo with Inuyasha an ungainly mass of dead weight.

“I've seen him walk around with a hole through his stomach, this is a scratch.” Kagome made a face even as she said it. It always sounded infuriating when he said it, why did she have to repeat it?

“No body could walk around with a hole through their stomach, its impossible.” Edward waved a hand at the unconscious hanyou lounging on his couch. “I doubt even that idiot—hey, what's baka mean?”

“Stupid, idiot, moron.” Miroku had been dissuaded quickly from flirting with Winry when he caught sight of the wrench she waved around like Sango and her Hirakosu. Warrior women were so hot though… “I'm surprised that whatever's translating for us didn't catch it.”

“What are you talking about?” Sango tucked in Shippo beside Inuyasha, chuckling as both boys responded to the arrangement positively. Shippo curled into a small ball under Inuyasha's arm as the elder hanyou wrapped it protectively around him.

“We're speaking Japanese, they aren't. Listen, your ears aren't actually hearing the words your mind is supplying.” All six people stopped talking all at once to follow Miroku's advice and the monk rolled his eyes. “Someone has to say something, or it doesn't work now does it?” Alphonse cocked his head to the side as he listened to the sound of the words instead of the words themselves.

“He's right. If I focus on his voice, I can't understand a word he's saying.” He turned to Kagome. “Try me.”

“What does it matter?” She conceded to the point that the garble of his voice did sound vaguely like German, but it didn't really matter what language they were speaking now, they could still understand each other. “Look, we have bigger problems than language barriers or nonexistent ones. We don't even know where we are or how to get back. If that's even possible.”

“Are chimeras common here? Is that why you thought our youkai friends were chimeras?” Miroku examined the radio that sat on the kitchen table, turning it this way and that before he figured out how the back came off. Seeing the collection of multicolored wires and copper circuits, he plopped down in a chair and began pulling it apart. Curiosity overcame the natural respect that he would have in another's home, he made sure to memorize where every little piece went before placing it neatly in a line.

Edward watched Miroku, mind turning over everything before he made an attempt to answer. “No, chimera's are against Alchemist Laws. Human alchemy like that, mixing humans with animals or even the poor creature we saw back in the forest, is against the law for us and the alchemist responsible for it gets put to death.”

“But you have them.” Kagome persisted, taking a seat near Inuyasha's head. “People break laws everyday.”

Smiling thinly, Edward nodded. “You'd be amazed at what people are capable of here.” Clapping his hands, he touched the radio that Miroku was pulling apart and the thing fell to pieces. “Understanding the world around us, we can deconstruct and then reconstruct,” another clap and the radio reassembled itself in less time, “most anything. Humans are no different.”

“Can you create a human? If you have the ingredients?” Sango thought back to Naraku's incarnations, how he could throw pieces off and have them create havoc. If everyone had that power…

“No.” Alphonse stood in front of the group to shake his head in panic. “That's why it's forbidden. The things that alchemist create in their place, while trying to create humans or bring people back from the dead, are even worse then chimeras.”

“Alchemists be thou for the people.” Edward let out a wry laugh. “An oath I took when I became a State Alchemist. Load of shit.” He worked his metal hand in anger. “Equivalent exchange, you can't gain without giving. Nice principal, but in no reality does it actually work.”

“It's not magic then.” Miroku sighed as he set about taking the radio apart. Seeing the thing jump back together in a crackle of blue had taken his interest. He had seen a few similar flashes before, during the fight, but hadn't been able to see what exactly had caused it.

“Magic isn't real.”

“Yes it is. How do you think we got here? Clicked our heels three times and wished for home?” Kagome snorted. “It's real where we come from.”

“But you're not there. You're here, and until we figure out how to get you back, magic isn't real.”

“Gah! Miroku, you talk to him. I get enough of that from Inuyasha!” Kagome followed Winry out, Sango trailing after her with Kirara riding on her shoulder. “Is he always such a…”

“Egotistical know-it-all? Yeah, Ed always had to be smarter than anyone else in the room. You'll get used to it, just like you'll get used to him being wrong.” All three girls giggled madly as they made their way up to Winry's room. “One of you can have the bed, and then you can switch tomorrow.”

“Winry, we are used to spending nights on the hard ground. The floor isn't so bad.” Sango started pulling blankets into a pile. “Kagome told me things about a `sleepover', do you know what they are?”

“The only sleepovers I remember are the ones I used to have with the Blond Brothers down stairs. And that was years ago.” Winry started to help, going to the hall closet to get extra pillows. “Grandma Pinako won't be back until tomorrow. So we have the house to ourselves!”

“Are we forgetting the horde of boys that have taken over the entirety of the living room?” Kagome threw a pillow at Sango who ducked and the pillow hit Winry smack dab in the face. “Is it even possible for us to venture down there for a drink?”

“Ah, you forget, I have this.” Winry hefted her wrench, big enough to make Sango flinch at the thought of it landing against someone's head.

“Does he grope you?” The question slipped.

“No, he knows better.”

“How did you manage that?” Sango took the wrench from the mechanic's hands and tested the weight. “Can I borrow this?”

“Just don't crack it. Ed doesn't like to use alchemy without it being a life or death situation.” After he had come back, he used his alchemy only sparingly. He didn't like to use it for just anything, which wasn't her old Ed at all. At times Winry tried to trick him into doing it, but no takers. Al wasn't as bad, but he would take more subtle ways to avoid the situations. Alchemy became a heavy subject that was taboo for her to mention.

Making their way back down the stairs, Kagome went first, racing to the couch to check on her two boys. Shippo was still asleep, but Inuyasha was stirring slightly. The other three were gone, Miroku's staff leaning against the kitchen wall beside the counter. “Were did they go?”

“If that lecher is even thinking about going about flirting, I'll hit him hard enough to smack some sense into that rock he calls a brain.” Sango swung her head around, a dog trying to catch a scent.

“They went to Edward's study. Alphonse is using the phone to call Central.” Winry returned from the hallway to peak over Kagome's shoulder. “Your friend waking up?”

“Fucking wenches…”

“Yes, he is.” Kagome smoothed a hand over his bandages to check them. “I'll need to change these, see if he's still bleeding.”

“Keh, I'm fine.” Trying to prove just how `fine' he was, Inuyasha started to sit up, paled, and leaned against Kagome for support. Glowering, he snapped. “See? I'm hungry.”

“All I see is a headstrong hanyou who's going to get seriously hurt one of theses days trying to act like Superman.” Kagome replied, arranging him to reach his chest better. “Hold still. You can eat after I check on these.”

“I'll get some of the leftover stew.” Winry watched as he continued to struggle for an upright position, swatting off Kagome's hands as she pushed him down. Just like Ed; neither of them lay still unless someone knocked them unconscious.

“No ramen?” Inuyasha whined. If he was going to be in this strange place, they had to have ramen. No ifs, ands, buts about it.

“Ed finished off the last of it yesterday.” Winry sat the bowl in front of him, amused when he took a few tentative sniffs before inhaling it in one big mouthful. “Stew's still edible, right?”

“Not ramen, but I can choke it down.” Inuyasha refused to look in Kagome's direction, sure that a death glare would be leveled at his head.

Winry chuckled. Did she look like that when Ed and she were fighting? She knew that Edward looked like him when he was eating, only in a slower motion with more food flying to the sides.

Inuyasha did a once over at the room, noting windows and exits in case of an emergency escape. The table in the other room, similar to Kagome's kitchen, was littered with bits of metal and books. Clutter from the smaller table beside the couch, a coffee table he thought, moved down to the floor. A dog with a metal forepaw lay down near the door, eyeing him wearily but not giving any voice to his displeasure at the strange canine lying on his couch. He could over hear the two blonds and Miroku in another room, one of them talking on a `phoonie' or whatever Kagome called them. Miroku was spouting off questions to the other, asking designs and symbols of alchemy. Tuning him out, Inuyasha twisted his ears to the sides, listening to the outside. Other than the sound of an owl and a few village sounds, he didn't hear any threat.

He located his pack by scent and sound, taking in that the fox kit had taken his lap as a pillow and continued to sleep. “I take it where staying here for awhile?”

“It's not like you have anywhere else to go.” Winry sat in the chair across from the trio, noticing that even though the cranky hanyou acted tough, he allowed Kagome to change his bandages with little fuss. Apparently they had gone through the routine enough to know that the script didn't change. “Wow, Kagome wasn't kidding.”

Winry knew how bad the wound had been, had seen the white of the man's ribs as Kagome bound them back. Winry had wanted to send for a doctor, but quickly retracted the statement when the rest shot the idea down. Al knew more about human anatomy and medicine then the small town doctor anyway, so Winry was forced to comply with the others.

Now she wondered if the others had pulled a fast one on her. The side, while still bleeding sluggishly at some of the deeper punctures, the rest had healed at least a week's time in less than two hours. “How did you do that?”

“One of the perks of being part youkai.” Wincing as she tightened the cloth into an acceptable bandage, Inuyasha raised his arms to continue eating as she worked. “One of few.” Deciding to turn the subject to one he could avoid talking in, and finish off the half decent slop, he used his spoon to stab Shippo in the side. “Why is the runt sleeping on me?”

“Because you were taking up the couch and he was tired after carrying you down the mountain.” Kagome ran her fingers over the finished bindings. “All done. And somehow how you avoided dropping you soup on me. Thank you.”

Ear swiveling in one direction, Inuyasha called, “I know you're there monk, just get out here. Stop avoiding me.”

“Contrary to your belief Inuyasha, the world does not revolve around you.” Fore named monk walked back into the room, squinting at the book. He found that if he concentrated he could see the foreigner's language, but after his eyes began to squirm in discomfort he took to Kagome's advice and continued on with the passage. “Why would I be avoiding you in the first place?” Placing a stack of small handwritten books to the table, more in the way of research journals then published works, he dropped into a chair near the irate hanyou and his lovely wife.

“Keh. For all I know you avoiding Sango.”

Sighing, Miroku looked up at the hanyou, marking his place with a finger. “One, I am poorly dressed to go anywhere to annoy my dear Sango. Two, matters are too serious to go gallivanting around rubbing fair bottoms.” Attempting to go back to his book, he gulped as he felt waves of anger coming from his lady he decided to add another reason. “And the most important reason is because I already have the finest bottom—err, finest wife a man could hope for.” Appeasement gained?

“Save it monk.” No, hardly not. He would have to make it up to her later.

“What are you reading Miroku?” Kagome reached over to snag one of the books he had dropped to the table. “`Atomic Bonds', `Time and Alchemy, and what are you reading, `Alchemic Beginnings'?”

“If we are to be here I might as well learn the magic that may have the means to get us home. There isn't much in the Time one, seems they haven't figured out time travel.”

“That's because it's implausible.” Edward came out, out of his red coat and shirts to allow Winry to change his own bandages. “Matter can not exist in the same place at two different times. It would throw the balance off.” Seeing blank gazes from certain silver headed members of the group, he explained it further. “Let's say you have two scales, no, make it three. Each weighs exactly the same as its fellows and with no outside help to tip the weight, the scales balance perfectly.” He clapped his hands, touching the scraps of metal on the table to create the set of scales he was describing. “Now, add a bit of matter to each,” He added a precise amount of water to them, making sure the scales didn't fall as he did so, “and you have the world in laymen's terms. Past, present, and future.” A finger jab to each scale. “Each existing in their own place.”

“That's absurd.” Al interrupted. “That makes no sense and you know it.”

“It's serving the purpose.” Ed shoved his brother's comment out, picking up a medicine dropper that he had used to measure out liquid compounds for his experiments all those years ago. Why Winry had it he wasn't sure, but again it would work. “Now, let's say you take some matter from the present, a person for example,” he took just the barest drop of water from the middle scale, waiting until the scales balanced out before continuing, “and move it into the past.” Squeezing the bulbous end, he squeezed just enough to get that tiny drop of moisture from the dropper into the `past' scale. The scales quivered and threatened to dump, but didn't.

“Well, I'm impressed. Any other teachings you would like to pass onto us unworthy ones O Mighty Runt?” Inuyasha gave him a bored look, not lost but unbelieving. These `alchemists' already admitted to knowing next to nothing about time travel, and he had traveled to the future. He leaned toward his own experience. Hell, without it he wouldn't have met Kagome. There, proof. Who the hell cared if these morons said it was `implausible', whatever the fuck that meant. He knew better.

“Watch.” Taking another droplet from the glass he had originally taken the water from, he moved to the `present' scale. “I said it had to exist in two times.” The droplet quivered in the light, hanging onto the end by a few molecules before submitting to gravity and falling into the scales.

Water swung in an arc, sailing through the air to land on an unsuspecting kitsune. Scales clattered to the table, and continued onto the floor. Edward's little `world' had just self-destructed.

“If the person attempts to continue on in the same time while their past selves occupy the self-same space, the world goes ka-blooey.” Pointing a finger at the wet hanyou and kitsune, he drawled, “Case in point.”