Naruto Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Of Alchemists and Shinobi: The Broken Law ❯ Sensei and Pariahs ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: Sensei And Pariahs

Ed awoke panting and sweating. He had that dream again; the one with his father. Except there was more added to it this time; he was fighting against his friends: Mustang, Armstrong, Hawkeye, and everyone else, they were hunting him.

`That was one hell of a nightmare,' thought Ed, trying to gain his composure. He looked down and realized that he wasn't in Naruto's apartment, but in a hospital bed. `Great, two times in one day.'

“Good you're awake,” coolly stated a voice.

“Who was that?” asked Ed. The reply came in the form of a book, a heavy book by the feel of it, coming down on his head. “Ow that hurt!” complained the boy.

“I am your tutor, Akane Atsuko,” introduced the voice, presumably a girl.

“Why am I here?” inquired a confused Edward.

“You had chakra exhaustion, an almost fatal hit to the heart, and cuts to your right brachial artery and your left cephalic vein. You'll be in the hospital for the next two weeks, so that means I'll be training you for three weeks instead of just one,” yawned the girl. `This also means triple the pay for me, hehehe.'

“What is chakra?” asked Ed.

“Oh for Kami's sake you don't even know what chakra is? This'll be much harder than I thought it would be,” angrily sighed the girl. `Wait, how could he suffer chakra exhaustion if he doesn't know how to use chakra?'

“Sorr-rry,” sarcastically apologized the boy, which was met by another smack to the head with the heavy book. “That hurts,” pouted Ed, rubbing his head where the book made contact, twice. “And what is it?”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot; this is a handbook on the ways of the shinobi. I have handwritten it myself and you are to guard it with your life. On that note, give me your hand,” explained Atsuko.

“Why?” questioned Ed.

“Just give me your hand baka!”

“Fine, fine.”

And with that Atsuko firmly grasped his hand and placed it palm down on the cover. This caused an electric-like effect to spread throughout his body, shocking him. Ed screamed out in pain and then the feeling ebbed away, taking the pain with it.

“What the hell was that?” demanded Ed.

“A simple imprint jutsu, it will make sure that you will be the only one able to open the book,” explained the girl. With that she handed him the book, and he opened it to find that it had only one page.

“What's the big deal? This “book” has only one page,” complained Ed.

“Just read the first two pages,” instructed Atsuko. Ed obeyed the directions and the pages just informed him of the meaning of a shinobi and their duties.

“Okay, I'm done,” announced Ed.

“Close and then re-open the book,” further instructed the girl. Edward did so and two different pages appeared. “Each day five new chapters will appear. Each chapter consists of roughly fifteen double pages. You are to memorize each of the twenty chapters by the end of the week.”

“What, that's insane!” retorted Ed.

“Well, this is the only way to become a shinobi. There are no shortcuts to becoming one, so suck it up,” spat the girl. She then left the hospital room, leaving the bandaged Ed lying on the hospital bed with only the book as company. A realization then struck him; he had never seen what the girl looked like.

Other than the appearance of his tutor and finding himself in a hospital bed, the day was not abnormal, until he chapter five of the book that is. The first chapter went into ninja basics and explained the requirements of ninja basics, a hazy description of chakra, and the requirements for an academy student to become a genin. The next chapter explained the genin survival tests, a description of genin missions, and the requirements for a genin to become eligible to take part in the Chuunin exams. Chapter 3 gave a hazy description of the Chuunin Exams and a description of chuunin responsiblites and missions. It just hinted at the requirements of promotion. Chapter 4 described jounin missions and responsiblites and other sub-classes of jounin such as ANBU and special jounin. Chapter 5 gave a more detailed description of chakra and the process of creating chakra.

`So that's what chakra is; the source of energy used by every Shinobi to create jutsus which is transformed from stamina, which is a mixture of the energy of the mind and body,' thought Ed. `So basically I converted too much of my stamina into chakra? But I didn't use a jutsu, I used alchemy.' Then he came upon hand signs, which channel the chakra into creating a ninjutsu or genjutsu. `This sounds a helluva lot like transmutation circles; converting energy into a new form.” He then read more about hand signs and came could decide a successful jutsu and a failed one. `I wonder.' The next time a nurse came to deliver upon diagrams of the twelve hand signs and about how the combination of them dinner, Ed asked for a notebook and several pencils. Nobody in the hospital could sleep that night due to loud bangs and shouts coming from Ed's room. When that same nurse came back to further heal Ed's injuries, she found an incinerated room, Ed with burns on his body, a piece of paper with notes on it, a book, and Ed smiling in his sleep.

*****

“Huh, this gonna hurt more than it should, sorry kid,” sighed the nurse. She then used a medical jutsu and thrust it into Ed's chest. Ed then started to fidget and groan in his sleep. She then started moving it throughout Ed's body, causing the pain to move with it. By the time she reached his damaged artery, he was screaming in pain, asleep. She then did several one handed seals and thrust another jutsu, which was similar to a ball of chakra, into his chest, causing even more pain. She then moved that one towards his damaged vein. By this time he was seemingly seizing due to the pain. `Five more seconds,' thought the nurse, gritting her teeth. She then immediately tugged the jutsu out of his body and his body stilled. The nurse then got balm and applied it to the burns on his face. “He does seem to be recovering quickly,” thought the nurse out loud.

“He should be, considering the fact that he could use a jounin-level jutsu,” stated a voice behind her.

“Good morning, Atsuko-san,” greeted the nurse, turning around to face her. `It's scary, how much she looks like her father,' thought the woman. “The boy has just undergone treatment so he will be unconscious for the next few hours,” informed the nurse.

“Arigoto Kisara-sama,” replied Atsuko. Kisara then left the room, leaving Atsuko with the sleeping Edward. She slumped into a chair and watched a butterfly fly into the room through an open window. `A pity that beauty is so fragile,' and with that thought, she pulled out a kunai and threw it like a dart at the butterfly, sticking it's impaled corpse to a wall.

“That's not very nice to do,” reprimanded Naruto as he walked into a room and walked next to Edward, looking at him confused. “Why is he back here?”

“None of your business Naruto-teme now get your ass out of this room now unless you want to end up like the butterfly!” growled the angry genin. Anger mixed with confusion and rejection in Naruto's eyes but he said nothing as he exited the room. `I will get you back for what you did to my family you bastard.'

“Not now, he's waking up,” whispered a voice.

“Ugh fine,” halfheartedly obeyed another voice. For some reason, it took more effort than usual to open my eyes. After much struggle they cracked open, only to find that I was lying in the middle of the road, surrounded by garden gnomes. Oh wait, no, those garden gnomes were children, that's why they didn't look evil and murderous.

“Where am I?” I asked, my eyes still hardly open.

“You're right outside the gates of Sirayia,” answered the second voice, attempting to sound gruff but sounded more like a puppy dog yelping. I then attempted to fully open my eyes, and succeeded and then sat up, after several embarrassing attempts. There were two of the kids kneeling over me, one boy and one girl.

“How are you feeling?” asked the girl, crimson hair blowing in the breeze. For some reason her eyes were closed, I wonder why, it's a perfectly nice day out and she's not asleep.

“I've felt better,” I sighed. Which was the truth, my head hurt, my throat was burning, and my body ached.

“Get up and we'll help you get to an inn,” commanded the boy in his yelpy voice. His gray eyes seemed to bore into my very soul; it was creepy. With the help of the two children, I eventually was able to stand up and then limp into the city.

It wasn't right. The city was empty, no one besides us in the streets. It seemed as if Sirayia was deserted and left for the vultures.

After several minutes of uncomfortable and anxious silence we reached a tall complex that apparently was the nearby hotel. When we entered the hotel after several minutes of trying to get past the revolving door, the lobby was empty, just like the rest of the city; it creeped me out. The last time I came here, the city was nothing but quiet with people going to clubs, bars, home, schools, reporting to and from the state, and other activities along with merchants, entertainers, and prostitutes selling their goods. The desk clerk started shivering uncontrollably for some reason as we approached him.
“H-how m-may I-I h-help y-you s-sirs a-and ma-ma-madem?” stuttered the clerk.

“We would like two adjoining rooms,” smugly demanded the boy with the odd eyes.

“O-of c-course s-sir. Roo-rooms 2-212 and 2-213; f-free of ch-cha-charge,” responded the clerk. The boy rudely snatched the keys from the clerk's shaky grasp.

`Okay, something is REALLY wrong here. Either this kid has some kind of mind control, which is impossible, or that clerk is scared shitless of him, which is probably the reason. But why?'

“Follow me,” snapped the boy. He sounded as if he was putting on a show for some reason, but the only other person in this room was the clerk. `Is he trying to impress me?' I decided that even if he was trying to impress someone, it would be rude not to thank the clerk for the rooms free of charge.

“Thank the clerk for his generosity,” I bluntly commanded, unmoving from my position.

“No, I don't thank no one for nothing,” retorted the boy.

“First of all, it's anyone, not no one, and second, you will apologize and you will be sincere about it,” I reprimanded. Geez, is this me talking like that?

“Fine, fine,” the boy grumbled. “Thank you mister.” He reminds me a lot like someone, but I don't know who. I feel like I've known this person for a long time but I don't know its name or what it looks like.

“Now will you follow me to the damn rooms?” asked the boy impertinently. So much for manners. The girl and I followed him to the second level of the inn and found the rooms almost immediately. All three of us entered Room 212. It was nothing like I've ever seen before. It looked as if the entire rug was velvet and the walls were pure gold. And the beds, oh yes, the bed, it was humungous! It could have supported at least five people of my size and the frames on the bed were made of pure silver. I took my shoes off and then flopped down onto the bed and inhaled deeply.

“I think that you should sleep now,” suggested the boy. Yeah, that sounded good. Sleep is good. I really feel tired now. I wonder why, I mean I was just ready to go a few minutes ago…

****

I woke up in that incredibly expensive room when my eyes finally opened; I guess I was more tired than I thought. I slowly sat up and looked out of the window next to my bed. It was pitch black outside. I yawned, got out of bed and left the room to go explore this new deserted Sirayia. As I descended the stairs I received a death glare from the desk clerk. I decided to pretend that I didn't notice it and went up to the front desk and asked where the nearest store was.

“What, so you can rob it for the JinchÅ«riki?” he spitefully asked. I mean, he could at least show some courtesy to his guest.

“No, I respectfully abide by the law. And what is this JinchÅ«riki you speak of?” I calmly retorted.

“Ha! Like you don't know; you were only fraternizing with his demon spawn!” the desk clerk spat. Now he was getting on my nerves.

“How could you say that? They're only children, why would they rob stores?” I practically screamed at him. How could he accuse children of all people?

“Only children? ONLY children? They are the spawn of that demon! They'd rob, murder, and even sell themselves for that bastard!” he shouted as a rebuttal. A realization then hit him; this person known as the JinchÅ«riki has brainwashed two innocent children to do his bidding. Anyone manipulative enough to do this doesn't deserve to live, let alone get away with doing it.

“Then why do you let this go on? Do something about it instead of complaining about it. Show this “JinchÅ«riki” that you mean buisness!” I screamed, indignation resonating from my very being.

“Why not you, huh kid? You seem to have some kind of connection with his demon spawn,” sleazily questioned the clerk, suddenly much calmer. “If you can get rid of the demon, I'll give you ten thousand dollars, straight out of my pocket. He goes to the Brawling Drunkard every night to get scotch and a smoke,” he challenged. The nerve of him, bribing me to get rid of his troubles! The degree of lowness that some people are willing to stoop to just disgusts me.

“Fine I will, but I don't want your filthy money, instead I want you to treat the two children he's manipulating like people, not some scum you can wipe off your shoe,” I accepted.

“It's right across the street from here, he'll be sitting in the very back of the bar sitting on a chair tilting back against the wall. Good luck, you'll need it.” I left the room without a remark and made my way to the Brawling Drunkard. As I entered, the putrid stenches of booze, cigarettes, and vomit penetrated my nostrils, making me gag. I tried breathing solely through my mouth as I walked farther into the bar.

“When this began
I had nothing to say
And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me
I was confused
And I let it all out to find
That I'm not the only person with these things in mind
Inside of me
But all the vacancy the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I've got left to feel
Nothing to lose
Just stuck, hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own”

I made my way to the back of the bar and found a figure leaning back in its chair smoking a cigarette and holding a glass of liquid that looked like scotch.

“Are you gonna just stare at me or say sumthin?” he asked.

“You are JinchÅ«riki?”

“And if I am?” I cocked my fist and punched him, making contact with his jaw.

“You have no right manipulating children into doing your deeds,” I coldly stated. At this he just laughed.

“You think that I manipulate them?” He asked. “I saved them from the streets. They were twin orphans living on the streets, and I took them under my wing.” Something inside me snapped as I punched him again.

“You think that you have a right to make children rob and steal and murder for you just because you gave them some courtesy? You disgust me!”

“You have no idea how many lies you're spewing from your mouth. They only steal because the citizens of this god awful town do nothing to help them, in fact, they've attempted to kill Andrew and Mallory several times, and I have protected both of them,” he calmly disproved. He then righted his chair and stood up, and I saw his face for the first time.

“I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've held so long
(Erase all the pain till it's gone)
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong”

“You…you're…only,” I stuttered. He sadly smiled, his cigarette mimicking the movement.

“Yes, I am only twelve years old. But I have seen things that Satan himself should never have seen,” he sadly informed. He turned around and asked me a simple question; “Have you ever been ignored, feared, or despised, Alphonse Elric?” That completely took me by surprise.

“How, how do you know my name?” I bewilderedly asked. He just smiled at me.

“I take it no, you haven't. Mallory, Andrew and I are all three, just because we are different. And I guess half of it would be my fault, spreading the rumor of murders and armed robberies. But…we should not be neglected our paradise for just trying to survive, no?”

“And I've got nothing to say
I can't believe I didn't fall right down on my face
I was confused
Looking everywhere only to find
That it's not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
So what am I
What do I have but negativity
'Cause I can't justify the way, everyone is looking at me
Nothing to lose
Nothing to gain/ hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own”

“I guess, but still, you should not have lowered yourselves to petty robbery. The entire human race is above that, so please, just stop what you're doing. You're just hurting their reputation with the citizens,” I pleaded with him. I was now positive that that bastard clerk lied to me about him.

“I'm sorry you think that way, but I cannot let that remark slide by when you have no idea what you are talking about, and I believe you came here to kill me, correct? Well then, you will have your wish, if you can defeat me,” he challenged. No matter how tough he tried to sound though, I could hear the sadness in his voice. “Discover why I am known as Frey the JinchÅ«riki!” Frey then appeared to change his very anatomical structure. Swords emerged from his forearms covered in blood. These were not ordinary swords though, they were his very bones in the form of swords. He then reached behind him and drew forth another sword, this one a broadsword measuring at least two feet in length made of some kind of metal that was pitch with swirling crimson designs. “I'm sorry Alphonse, but your death will fuel our survival,” he apologized, regret clearly showing in his voice.

“I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I've held so long
(Erase all the pain till it's gone)
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real
I wanna find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong”

He then charged at me with one of his bone swords. I ducked under it and sweep kicked his legs. He fell but slashed at me with his broadsword in his descent, slashing my arm. I rolled away and hastily drew a transmutation circle with the blood from my arm. The floorboards twisted up into shackles and bound his hands and feet. I then drew another circle onto a table, and that morphed into a spear with a coiled shaft of gold and white and the point made of iron.

“Please, don't make me have to use this Frey,” I pleaded. I really didn't want to hurt him now. I just wanted to help him in some way. To make him feel like he's wanted and doesn't have to steal to fuel his very life. He surprised me by breaking the shackles easily and then driving his sword into the floor and using it to pole-vault himself across the room, smashing his foot into my chest and breaking a bone, probably my collarbone, sending me flying into the wall. He then came charging at me with his bone swords while I was recovering from an addled and dazed feeling. I sloppily brought my lance up to guard the assault, but it worked; the two of us were trapped in stalemate. I broke it and quickly sidestepped, letting him stumble into the wall. I then pointed up my spear and pressed it to his brain stem. “Please, surrender,” I pleaded.

“Never. The day I do is the day I let Andrew and Mallory down,” he spat. I really didn't want to kill him, but, if it was me or him, it had to be him. If only I could calm him down. I then felt something cold run up against the unprotected flesh of my neck, a dagger.

“Please, Alphonse, move away from Frey,” whispered Mallory.

“I'm sorry Mallory, but he won't stop until either me or him is dead, so I really do feel sorry for this,” I apologized.

“So am I,” she whispered as my world went black. Mallory held the hilt of her dagger as she plunged it's hilt into my neck.

Narrator POV

Andrew then walked from the other side of the room, bloodlust in his eyes. He then positioned himself over Alphonse and raised the sword above his chest and smiled.

“Before you die, Alphonse, you should know that this death of yours will not be in vain, it will be my test to see if I truly can become a man. And I'll answer your question; I told Frey your name. I can see into peoples' souls and know everything about them, know their relatives, know their emotions, who they treasure above everything else. And you were decent, for an alchemist,” he sneered. He then lifted the sword and brought it down, connecting with bone with a crunching sound.

“I will never know myself until I do this on my own
And I will never feel anything else, until my wounds are healed
I will never be anything till I break away from me
I will break away, I'll find myself today”

“This kill is not yours for the taking, nor is it mines. He has only done what he has done to try to give us a place where we feel wanted and needed; somewhere we belong,” explained Frey, his right bone sword broken as he guarded Andrew's blow. “Now, let us go, we at least owe him the gift of protection on his journey, correct?” Mallory voiced her reply happily, while Andrew just grumbled. But unbeknownst to the three children, the entire city was waiting outside the bar with guns, swords, rocks, and other weapons, ready and more than willing to slaughter all four of the bar's occupants.

 

A/N: The song used in this chapter was “Somewhere I Belong” by Linkin Park, and the song used in Chapter 2, in case I haven't already told you, is “The Sun” by Maroon 5.

I welcome any criticism except for flames with welcome arms.