InuYasha Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ In Pursuit of the Green Dragon ❯ Reluctant Ally ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Ed and Inuyasha's fight takes an unexpected turn, and Miroku plays the role of mediator between the two fiery-tempered young men.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.23.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 601 | Status: Work In Progress

Musashi's Domain, late 16th century

Ed squirmed fruitlessly against the iron weight pinning him. "I'm an alchemist, not a magician," he protested. "There was no spell."

"Oh, dear," he heard Miroku remark. "This is going to get very unpleasant."

"You think I'm stupid?" Inuyasha sneered above Ed's head. "I saw the pattern."

"It's a transmutation cir --" Ed started to explain. The weight increased, and he began to have trouble breathing. It felt like his lungs were being crushed.

"I don't fucking care what it is," Inuyasha hissed, and Ed felt sharp claws dig into the tender skin of his throat. "I just want you to fix it."

"I--" Ed's vision was starting to get blurry now from lack of oxygen. "Can't bre--" There was a rushing in his ears, his lungs were burning, and he could feel his heart straining.

Alchemy... Inuyasha hadn't bothered to pin Ed's arms. Without thinking, a transmutation circle sprang into Ed's mind, and desperately he clapped his hands together to complete the transmutation, an instant before he remembered that alchemy didn't work on this side of the Gate.

And something happened.

Ed felt the ground at his side heave, and the air was suddenly filled with the smell of damp earth.

"Hey!" he heard Inuyasha yell.

The weight disappeared abruptly from Ed's back, and he rolled away, gasping air--sweet air!--into his starving lungs. After a moment, he was able to sit up, and focus on what had just happened.

Did I just...?

Ed looked up to see Inuyasha trapped in a column of stone, imprisoned up to his shoulders. It worked! For the first time since leaving his own world, Ed had been able to transmute something with ease.

Ed couldn't help it. He grinned triumphantly, which earned him a fanged snarl from his captive.

"Hey, that guy's a sorcerer," Shippo called.

"A powerful sorcerer," Miroku agreed. He leaned on his staff, and studied Ed consideringly. "Now what will you do, Edward-sama? You've won this fight--for now--but I believe that Inuyasha will manage to free himself shortly."

It was true. Much to Ed's dismay, Inuyasha's frantic stuggles were beginning to crack the newly-formed stone imprisoning him. Shit. Just how strong is this guy?

"So, what do you want me to do?" Ed snapped. "He started the fight."

"Indeed, but I believe the fault lies with both of you," Miroku replied tranquilly. "An apology for the misunderstanding, and perhaps an explanation about what you were doing in the well might go a long way towards resolving this situation."

"It's true, Edward-sama," Sango said, coming to stand next to Miroku. "You may have won this fight, but it's only because Inuyasha was restraining himself. After all, he once killed a dragon with only his sword."

"Speaking of dragons..." Ed said. "You wanted to know why I was in the well? Well, I'm looking for a dragon. One, in particular."

Miroku raised his eyebrows, and Sango looked interested. Neither of them appeared to think that Ed was crazy for suggesting that dragons existed.

"We--my younger brother and I--need to find this dragon. It's complicated, but it's the only way we can get home again."

"I see," Miroku said.

"Don't you dare help him!" Inuyasha yelled from his pillar-prison. “Not until he gives back Kagome!” He wriggled wildly, and Ed saw another crack appear in the stone surrounding him.

"We might be able to help you," Miroku said, raising his voice slightly to be heard over Inuyasha's curses. "But first, you must release Inuyasha."

"Only if he promises to behave himself," Ed said, snidely.

Brother, don't be an ass. The voice of Ed's conscience sounded suspiciously like Al.

Miroku and Sango were looking at him expectantly.

"All right, all right. But if he kills me, it's your fault." Ed sighed and looked up, addressing Inuyasha. "I'm sorry, okay? Maybe I did break something in the well. But I didn't mean to. We--my brother and I--were only trying to get home. I'll do my best to fix it. But, yeah, um, sorry. I apologize."

Ed tried to figure out if there was something else he should say, since Inuyasha's furious golden glare hadn't subsided, but that was pretty much it.

He closed his eyes, and summoned the transmutation circle he had used to create the earthen bonds--now crumbling--that held Inuyasha captive. He reached out, found the flow of energy that triggered the transmutation, and reversed it, to decompose rather than create.

Inuyasha staggered forward in a shower of loose dirt, and fell to his knees.

The hanyou was trembling, and Ed saw that his face had gone a little greenish under his tan and a fine sheen of perspiration.

"Are you all right?" he asked, keeping a cautious distance in case this was a trick of some kind.

Inuyasha shook his head, as if trying to clear it.

"Feel...a little dizzy..." he muttered, and began to retch.

"Inuyasha!" cried Sango, rushing forward and falling to her knees next to him.

"Did you poison him?" she asked Ed, sharply.

Ed shook his head. "I just..." A sudden thought occurred to him, and he fell silent. Alchemy shouldn't work here, but it does. Why?

Inuyasha continued to heave, making unhappy strangled-sounding noises. Sango helpfully gathered the mass of his long silver hair, and held it back with one hand, while rubbing his back comfortingly with the other.

What's going on with him? Just a few minutes ago, Ed was convinced that the hanyou was going to rip him limb-from-limb.

Ed heard the musical jangle of his staff as the monk came alongside him. "I think," Miroku said, solemnly, "that perhaps you should refrain from using your magic, or alchemy, or whatever it is that you call it. It seems to have an adverse effect on Inuyasha's youki, which isthe source of his demonic power."

Oh. "I didn't mean to--" Ed began.

"Like you didn't mean to seal the well?" Inuyasha asked bitterly, wiping his mouth with a clawed hand. He still looked pale, but at least the vomiting had stopped.

"Perhaps it is only sealed from this end," Miroku suggested, soothingly. "Perhaps Kagome-sama will rejoin us soon, since she can travel through the well on her own."

"I'll remove the transmutation circle--uh, that pattern in the dirt," Ed volunteered. "Or I can redraw it, and try opening the well again with a transmutation...but, um, that might not be such a good idea." He cast a look at Inuyasha, feeling a pang of guilt.

"Perhaps we should save that as a last resort," Miroku agreed.

"Kagome has a jewel shard, so maybe she can use that to open the well," Shippo said.

"The well--it really does open by itself? And people can travel through it?" Ed asked.

Sango nodded. "Though only Kagome and Inuyasha--and now, you--have been able to use the well. The rest of us have tried, upon occasion, to travel through it, but for us, it remains simply a dry well."

Shit. Ed kicked gloomily at a clump of dirt. "My brother is somewhere in that well. We opened the gate, or portal, or whatever-it-is, because we needed to hunt that dragon. And then something happened, and I ended up here, alone."

"So, it's possible that your brother and Kagome-chan are in the same place," Sango said. "Perhaps we should work together to find them."

"Are you crazy?" demanded Inuyasha. "This is the guy who broke the well in the first place, and you want to help him?"

"I said I was sorry about that!" Ed snapped. He and Inuyasha exchanged glares.

"This dragon," interrupted Miroku. "You said you were hunting it. Did it come from your world, then?"

Ed nodded.

"Then perhaps Sango's news may interest you. Inuyasha, too." Miroku said.

"While you were away, fetching Kagome-chan," Sango said. "We received news that a dragon stole the Shikon no Tama from Naraku."

"Naraku apparently invited the dragon to his castle to offer an alliance, and the dragon betrayed him," Miroku added.

"No shit?" Inuyasha asked, and then, alarmingly, he began to laugh. "Naraku got double-crossed?"

"It was certainly a very unusual thing for a dragon to do," Sango continued. "And so, I wonder whether this is a foreign dragon, perhaps even the same one that you are pursuing, Edward-sama."

"If that is the case, then we should definitely join forces," Miroku said.

"No!" Inuyasha growled. "No fucking way."

"If Edward-sama is a powerful sorcerer, this might be our best opportunity to reclaim the jewel," Miroku argued. "Especially if Edward-sama is pursuing this dragon, anyway. Why not work together?"

Inuyasha crossed his arms defiantly. "How about he fixes the well, first? We need Kagome if we're going after the jewel."

"I agree," said Miroku. "Re-opening the well would be a sign of good faith on your part, Edward-sama."

"Believe me, I want my brother here just as badly as you want Kagome," Ed said, fervently. "I'll do my best, but I can't promise anything."

"Then it's agreed." A small, unusual-looking cat sprang up on Sango's shoulder with a mew. She petted it, and Edward noticed that it had two tails. "We'll wait for you to bring Kagome and your brother here, and then we'll go on a dragon hunt together."

"Deal." Ed stated, with a confidence he didn't feel. How the hell was he going to reopen the well, especially since he had just promised not to use alchemy?

Canon and historical notes:

Although the year is never stated explicitly in Inuyasha, I've assigned a date of 1551 for the Sengoku-jidai setting, based on historical references made in the series to Oda Nobunaga as "that fool from Owari," an epithet that predates the beginning of his career of conquest, and the existence of cannons and artillery in some of the episodes. This corresponds to year 25 of Emperor Go-Nara's reign (1526-1557)