You look like someone I've seen before...

Ah, and what a nice morning it was! Tsune stretched his arms high above his head and let out a loud sigh, a crooked smile playing on his lips. It was well past noon, though he had just woken up from the best night of sleep he had in a few days. Scratch the nightmares, but those were normal. He glanced around Central contently. The train ride really wasn't that bad from Rush Valley, but hell, it dented his pocket quite a bit. Except for the fact that his pocket was extremely light to begin with. He was sure though, he would be making some money soon--well, he hoped.

Since there was nothing really to do today, he figured he would work on his newly fashioned alchemy. Glancing at the black cotton gloves on his hands, he smirked. He always got excited when he could focus enough to make it work. He was definitely getting better at it too. It would be no time before lightning became something natural to him. Hell, he got electrocuted enough times to say he was used to it. Aside from the physical damage, it didn't even hurt him anymore. That was a good thing.

He moved off the main roads, and continued further down until he reached an area he had found before. It had been the day he left home that he came upon this large open space. It was perfect, he thought, for training. Tsune moved through the fairly long grass that was littered with a splay of colorful leaves. Picking one up, he examined the beautiful red color. It was too bad that the color red couldn't always be this breathtaking. He dropped it and it fluttered back atop the grass. Blood ruined the color red and he despised it.

He began stretching, bending one knee and then the other, touching his toes, pulling on his arms. At last he felt ready. He slid off one of the black gloves that was over his Automail hand and tucked it carefully into his pocket; it wouldn't be good if someone got a hold of the transmutation circle he had crafted himself. He shut his blue steel-colored eyes in concentration.

When he felt prepared, Tsune clapped his hands together like he was praying and rubbed them together quickly about five or so times before hitting them against the underneaths of his arms. His Automail arm, being above his normal arm, began to make cracking noises and the transmutation circle on his glove began glowing blue. Purple flashes of small jagged lines crackled in the air around him and when he opened his eyes, he pointed his finger like a gun and pulled the trigger.

"Bang." A large stream of lightning plunged up the metal of his arm, through the tip of his finger, and into the tree 200 feet away. It immediately lit on fire and was followed by a loud crack of thunder, echoing through the air.

"Aa~ that was a loud one..." He frowned. "The sound almost broke the sensitizers on these." He fiddled with the practically invisible ear plugs in his ears and managed to look around the area while doing so. It hadn't been his best exercise, but he was satisfied none-the-less. Casually walking over to the demolished tree, he felt a little bad as he pulled a large pale blue bucket out of his messenger bag and began filling it with water from the abandoned park's faucet.

He got the fire out before it completely killed the tree, and frowned at the pain he had just caused it. It'll survive...at least. Now, he had to get out of here before anyone flocked there to see what the huge boom was about!

Jay was asleep on the curb when a loud BOOM went off. Her location wasn't to meaningful, besides the fact that she hadnt made it to Kanama before sleep overcame her. She woke slowly, groaning and rubbing her ears. The noise had awakened her, but she hadn't even met her own sleep quota, falling asleep around 10 in the morning! She stretched and finally stood up, cracking her back to get it in position for movement instead of her curled up sleeping position on the edge of a sidewalk. "Great... Now I assume I should investigate..." She yawned and began walking towards the demolished tree about 2 blocks off. Her eyes snapped open, wide awake, however at the sight of a very known face: How could she forget the face of the man who had held the gun to her head on that fateful night. She didn't allow her brain to think things through before the vendetta of her memory took over in a bloody rage. She pulled a long, jagged sword from her waist sheath and charged the man at a surprising pace, swinging wildly while screaming a battle cry. This would be the 5th head in her golden set.

[201]

He froze mid-step, feeling a strange sensation coming up from behind him. Shivering, he turned around to hear a shriek of rage. ...Did she like trees or something? He blinked in confusion and stepped to the side of her wild swing. No, she was way too serious for that. The air kicked up around the jagged sword that brushed past his side. He couldn't recall anything he had done to receive a reaction like this...wait...well, he hadn't done anything to make someone want to kill him...

Swiping silver bangs from his eyes he turned to face the girl directly. He lunged for her blade and gripped it tightly with his Automail hand to prevent her from cutting off his head while he was trying to talk. Tsune held his gloved hand up in a peace offering.

"Oi, oi calm down there. I don't know what I've done to you, but..."

Jay swung again, deadly aim and speed combining into one entity of force. "YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! YOUR HEAD IS GOING ON MY WALL, YOU MONSTER!" Jay's cold eyes, normally emotional were in an explosion of fury and rage. She didn't even pay attention to the people walking by and watching her fight or the fact that everyone heard her scream about mounting his head on the wall. She could care less what they thought. This man was the one that held her at gunpoint and forced her to kill her family. She truly didn't care about her family's massacre in the raid. It was the sheer principle of it. They COMMANDED her to do it. She would not rest until every member of that gang was on her wall, if it killed her. This one would have a diamond plaque. He was at the top of her list. And he...Would...Die.

[152]

The word confusion wouldn't even cut it, he had to apt for the emotion: bewilderment. The accusation caught him by surprise so much so that he barely had enough time to dive to the side and parry it with his Automail. Tsune hit the moist grass that felt more like ice as the water seeped into his clothing. He had to stop her... He hurried to his feet and ran at her with blinding speed, going for her arms. If he could disable her, then he could get her to explain. It seemed this girl was very much like Izzy (one of his 15 sisters). Izzy didn't like speaking with words either. Usually a punch meant she liked you. He was sure though it wasn't like that in this case.

"Shiiiiit~~" He managed to cry out as he slipped in the long grass that happened to be wetter where she was standing. Ugh! Maybe he should have let that damn tree burn to death. The sword grazed his head as he fell, severing a few strands that gracefully fluttered to the ground--lost among the leaves. Damn, if he hadn't of fallen that would have been his head that was fluttering to the ground. He swallowed and pushed himself backwards and to his feet. He really needed better hand to hand combat training. Wrestling with siblings wasn't cutting it.

Jay screamed again and lunged her sword directly downward at his chest, while aiming to stomp his ankle- A crushing blow considering her automail. She then placed her other hand on a curved dagger, more like a backwards sickle than a knife. She would use this to slice his head clean off his shoulders. But for now, she struck at a key bolt in his automail arm, attempting to knock it off by severing its wires and removing that bolt. She may not be an expert on automail or even knowledgable OF automail, but since three of her limbs were automail, she knew it's biggest weak points by heart simply to know when her own limbs were in any danger. This was going to be a long fight, she thought, seeing this guy's reflexes. Unfortunately for him, he would have to beat her in combat to stop her from killing him.

[151]

His first instinct was to save the Automail. Why? Well...somehow he was able to reason quickly that he would never be able to afford fixing it. Or maybe it was just dumb luck. Rubbing his hands together like he was waiting to catch a football, his hand shot out to grab hold of her wrist. It was the wrist holding the malformed sickle. He gripped it tightly as he fell from the blow to his ankle. After having dropped to the ground, he rolled to the side just enough to avoid the fatal blow to his chest.

At first, he didn't even notice the pain in his ankle that had caused him to fall in the first place; all he felt was the jagged burning in his side. The blade from her sword had sliced through his sweatshirt, through his tank top, and across his ribcage. He couldn't tell if it was deep, but enough blood leaked from it to tell him that he was going to need stitches. The sacrifice was a successful one, seeing as he was still breathing. No time to think.

He dropped her wrist and simultaneously touched the insides of his arms. Tsune and the extremely tall girl were immediately surrounded by crackles of purple-colored light that sent jolts throughout their bodies. He stood up, pointing his metal finger like a gun at her. "Bang."

Drawn but further to the protons in the woman's Automail, the small slivers of electric bolts collected in the three areas over her body. If they ventured to touch her skin, it was just enough to make any human faint. The only problem was that not all of it fired. The transmutation was glowing, but still not all of it left him or the air around them. It seemed the energy was too small a voltage to register. Shocks of lightning shot up and down the blade of the sword and slid jaggedly across the surface of the sickle-like knife. The sound was almost mind-wrenching.

Taking deep breaths to stay conscious from the electric waves that were also flowing through his own body, Tsune grimaced. Never had he tested trying to use so little of his lightning ability before. Usually it was all thrown into one ray and shot, but now he couldn't direct the small pieces to one area let alone control them all. Well, it was better than shooting her with what he had been practicing earlier. Not hurting her was in Tsune's best interest. His normal hand clutched at the gash in his side as he moved a bit closer to examine the damage he caused.

Jay immediately thought of her automail arm above her legs, and jerked it aside quickly, letting her legs take the spark and protecting her arm by holding it behind her, under a sheet of rubber she had for just the occasion of being shocked, though not before hurled her jagged sword at his hand, aiming to tear his gloves. But, at that moment she was struck by a blasting wave of pain. The amount of pain in her knee and thigh was enormous and she dropped to the ground, defenseless. Sighing in defeat, she held up her arms, glaring at Tsune. "Go ahead...Finish me. You won, again... " But she was far from beaten. With very little blood spill, she secretly detatched her left leg from the automail and used her stump of leg to aim at her gun, ready to kick it into her hands if he attempted anything. He would never even know the cause of his death. Poor, poor soul...

[163]

Tsune bent down on the ground in front of where she had fallen. He regretted using alchemy on her, but if he hadn't, he really would have been in deep shit--or dead. He never had been in a real fight before and his heart was still racing from his experience. No one had ever wanted to kill him. Kicked out of his thoughts by a sudden onset of reality, his steel blue eyes darted to the side, noting the existence of the gun nearby. His life was still threatened; a battle wasn't over just because someone admitted defeat. He placed a hand protectively over it, putting his weight on the metal while his other still gripped his side in obvious pain. He pretended not to notice what her intentions may have been and managed to smile slightly.

"But we've only just met," He reasoned, deciding to pick up the gun and toss it far away. "I believe you have mistaken me for someone." He frowned and inched closer to her so he could meet her eyes directly. "My name's Tsune." He reached out his now free hand tentatively toward her. "I'm glad you aren't injured."

Jay continued glaring. "Well, I'm glad you told me your name and all, but names don't matter. I can still remember that night clearly and the man who forced me to kill my family had the same hair and eyes as you... And I never forget a face. So far, I've killed 4 of your little goons, and you, their gang leader, are gonna die today!" The gun, having been smacked away, was replaced by a shoto she pulled from behind her. She swung the short sword ith her usual skill and speed, aiming to strke his knee for a crippling blow. And in the other hand, she grasped her automail leg, already detatched, and swung that at his other knee, creating a scissor effect with shoto and automail. Though, now she had a few doubts on who he was. But that wouldn't convince her against enacting her revenge on him. She wouldn't be put down until he either killed her, or knocked her out and she doubted he would do either. So far, he was only defending besides that static attack.

[187]

Jesus, where did she keep all these weapons!? He nearly had his knee sliced in half before he stretched it to the side. That was when he felt a shot of pain run all the way through his thigh and up to his hip from his other knee. She had used her detached leg to hit him with it--like she had become some strange human scissor. Who the hell fought like that?!

"Aghhh!" He growled, jumping up to one leg, swaying. That was IT. He was done. No more. She didn't give up, did she? She clung to her assumptions, deluding herself until she could no longer back out--until it was too late. He was sure that if he had forced her to kill her parents, he would remember it vividly. ...And probably be haunted by it for the rest of his life. But he hadn't! So why...? It seemed to him like she needed something to drain away her pent-up rage. She couldn't find the real guy, so she had someone else take his place. Good. He'd rather it be himself that way they wouldn't have any deaths on their hands. He glanced at the blood leaking out of the gash his side. Shit...at least he hoped so.

He suddenly turned serious at the sight of his own blood, realizing like he had when he faced 'the gate' how real death was. He stared straight ahead at her with sharp eyes that penetrated the air between them. His lips twitched into a frown and he took a step, then two, then three. And all of a sudden he appeared beside her in the grass. Using his metal hand, he sliced at her neck for a knock-out blow.

[Hahah this is making me laugh it's so great.]

Jay had just finished replacing her leg when BLAM! She was hit in the throat and just barely ducked it, taking it in the skull instead. It threw her backwards and she landed on her stomach a few yards away. This was when she was struck down, not by him at all but by her worst foe, psychologically. She went into a state of panic now, rapdily changing from aggressive rage to a loud shriek and trying to stand up on her busted automail, falling clumsily back down. It looked almost as if she were having a seizure or something though in reality, she was fine. These panic attacks weren't common but they DID happen and they were even worse than her low physical strength and technophobia. And the worst part was yet to come. See, in these spasmodic panics, she felt no pain. Like a muscle spasm, seizure, and blackout combined. She kneed herself in the stomach scrambling up and she did so with enough force to make her puke as well as choke out blood. She then stood up finally, before passing out and hitting the ground HARD.

[190]

(xD yea, it is pretty funny...Also, Jay is the worst person to be right now. lol)

Tsune stared in horror. He stood there, transfixed on his hand as if it was some kind of curse. He let it fall to his side and collapsed to his knees, taking deep breaths. The blood everywhere made his stomach churn and it didn't help that his head was spinning also. He crawled over to her broken form and carefully dragged her away from the bodily fluids that were now all over the grass.

He wasn't much of a doctor, but at least he could try and figure out what had been the cause of...that. Had he really hit her head that hard? He couldn't tell--he couldn't feel how hard his hand would have hurt. It was only this cold metal laughing back at him in defiance. What the hell was he going to do now? At least he already knew what he wasn't going to do; he knew for a fact that there was no way he was going to leave her here. Well, that decided it...

It had start drizzling by the time Tsune reached the front doors to the hospital. He gazed in with a wary expression, but in no time, he was surrounded by others. Without realizing it, the girl was taken out of his arms, down a long hallway, and out of sight. He watched her go with forlorn eyes. Then he felt hands on himself and jolted with surprise back to reality. It was only then he realized that he was being bombarded with questions.

"Aa..." He sputtered incoherently. It was clear the blood loss had gotten to him and he could barely hear--it felt like trying to comprehend words underwater. An annoying ringing was resounding through his head and all he could think about was her safety and the fear that they would discover the assortment of the girl's weapons he had shoved in his bag instead of the abandoned bucket. Poor bucket...

"Tsune!" One of the white-coats was trying to get his attention. Woah. When had he told them his name? He couldn't remember. It was the strangest thing. He tried to focus, coming back to their questions and answering them the only way he could: short and simple.

"No, it was a hit-and-run. No. I don't know...I had just met her. AB..." He felt the rain only then like he hadn't realized it until then. He felt his silver hair dripping down his back, and pieces of his bangs sticking around his eyes. He swayed and then quickly felt more hands on him, keeping him from falling.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a chair with wheels that was being pushed through the doors and down the same hallway the girl had gone down. Good...maybe he would get to see her...

* * *

It was still raining...harder. The loud drill of water descending off the roof echoed in the silence of the room stained with white. Beside her bed, he sat vacantly staring. He really shouldn't have been there, but he had insisted. If she woke up...honestly who the hell knew what she would do?

He hated wearing this light blue color...it clashed horribly with his eyes and offset the silver of his hair, making it look almost white like his now pale face. He scowled. He. Was. Not. An. Old. Man. He just had really strange-pigmented hair. He was also Anemic since the day he was born... Life sucked and it didn't help that he could barely twitch without losing his equilibrium. At least the chair was comfortable... it had nice leather cushions and sides that were high enough to keep him from falling out of it... Still, he remained perfectly still for fear of losing consciousness again. It had already happened three times.

[Oh...ouch. The 'BLAM' was the best part. XD let me know if the hospital section sits well with you.]

Jay woke up in a hospital bed and her first thought was what she yelled out loud. "HOW DID I GET HERE!" She remembered a panic attack hitting in the middle of the fight. Maybe a passerby had called the cops and broke it up? Nah, if the law had been called, she would have been arrested... Oh crap, now that she thought of it, if the hospital SAW her records, she'd be locked up... "CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP! Aw man, whoever brought me here is dead! SO DEAD!" She meant it too. If she was arrested, she would bust out, kill the person who took her here, then stay on the run for a few weeks. She turned to look to her left, checking her surroundings, and there she saw him. She reached for her knife, but found to her dismay, that it was GONE! "What are YOU doing here! Isn't it enough that some
soon-to-be-dead man brought me here, but then, the VERY PERSON THAT CAUSED MY FREAKIN PANIC ATTACK would be in the chair beside me? If I wasn't still weak from the panic attack, I would nail you in the face. At least tell me that my automail is functional again?" She was so ticked off now... Her automail had better be functional, fixed and oiled or she was going on a rampage.

[228]

"I brought you here after you passed out on me. Don't worry. I gave them a fake name. ...I don't know your name anyway." He stared at her freak-out tantrum on the bed and laughed inwardly. This girl was something and quite a handful. He was going to go into debt from this, he knew it. Ugh. Now, she was blaming him? All he had done was defend himself. Honestly, who was feeding her these lies?

"Fine, I'll leave." He stated emotionless. Forgetting his own injuries, he stood up, the room turned upside down, and he found his face flat against the tile. "Shhhit," He managed to hiss out, closing his eyes tight, and heaving a painful sigh. After a few moments of trying to look like someone who had died, Tsune shoved himself onto his knees and leaned heavily against the front of the chair he had been sitting in. The floor was really cold; it felt like sitting on ice...thin ice.

"Your Automail is in my bag with everything else... just barely fit." He said while massaging his temples with his eyes closed. "If it isn't functional, I know someone who can fix it."

She sighed... How did she know that he had brought her here? But why? Why had he brought her to the hospital, made sure she wouldn't get arrested, and actually waited for her to wake up? It didn't make sense... "Why did you do it?" She asked it less like someone who wanted to know why a person did something so nice, and rather more like a question the police would ask after a murder. She was too cold and spiteful to ask it in a normal way. "And besides that, and don't play dumb with me, why didn't you just kill me when you had the chance? I know it was you. No one else would have that exact face!" She didn't care that she was screaming, or that she was dizzy and in pain still. She could still act on her own will. It was her natural instinct. Let no weakness overcome you, and you will be strong.

[160]

"I've never killed anyone in my life, and you certainly weren't going to be the first," He said, his voice penetrating and daring her to think otherwise. He glared at her with sharp blue eyes that sparkled with his conviction. "As for why...why do you think?!" He was getting aggravated now, and his head throbbed in protest to his raised voice. "Honestly, where are you getting these ideas?" He flopped his head onto the seat and shut his eyes. Silence consumed the room, until their breathing could almost be heard.

"You shouldn't hold so much scorn, it can't be what you're really like..." Tsune murmured, opening his eyes a crack. "And if you keep screaming, you're going to pass out." He sighed, shutting his eyes again. Yeah...pass out like he felt he was going to. It was hard to think through a cloud and even more difficult to move when everything seemed to be made out of water. Ugh...if only she knew.

Jay scoffed and glared at the wall. She didn't believe a word he had just said. She was blinded by an intense rage and vengeance, of the like that could never be satisfied until she completed her goals. She then, agonizingly, forced herself to sit up and then get out of the bed, staggering into the door before catching her balance. "Well, for whatever reason you took me here, and whoever you claim you really are, I'm leaving now. But cross my path again and you'll pray that you never met Jay Caroline Furor. " She glared at him with the intensity of ten thousand suns before leaving. In fact, she was stunned by the hatred she had included in that statement, going as far as using her full name. She almost NEVER used her last name, let alone her middle name. It was a true sign of her scorn.

[150]

...eh? Did she just leave? Tsune blinked at the door that just had slammed behind her, leaving him alone in a room full of scorn. "Don't worry about the cost or anything!!" He called after the vanishing figure. He figured she would eventually find her leg and weapons in his bag he had held for them at the front desk. Looks like he would have to buy a new bag also... The money! Well, at least the staff weren't going to be rummaging through his bag and held it faithfully on the rack with other patient's precious belongings.

He scowled at the wall, wishing she was still there so he could lecture her. But she was gone... Her name was Jay... He staggered to his feet and then struggled through the door she had just gone through. He would check out himself and get back somewhere he could really relax. He was almost positive they wouldn't let him though. That was when his military card came in handy. He smirked to himself as he pressed the down button to get onto the elevator.

[Owari; End]