Bitter Hate Sweet Love

Bitter Hate Sweet Love

Chapter 3

Stupid Gate



Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to any of the various anime/manga/movies or the characters involved.



Dad and I opened our wings in unison and I thought of Ed and Al. There was a flash of light and when I opened my eyes we were standing before the Gate. I had completely forgotten about that. We quickly closed our wings before the black arms reached out and grabbed us. I felt my right leg being yanked off. The Gate flashed pictures before my eyes and I couldn’t remember half of them. I do remember a lot of them were of random battles, and I think I saw Kahiri in a few of them.



When I finally opened my eyes I found myself laying on my back staring up at the clouds. I was lying on a rather uncomfortable bit of ground. It felt like I was lying on bricks but I felt far too dizzy to check.



"Kihara! Kihara where are you?" Dad called.



"I\'m over here!" I called back.



He slowly made his way over to my left side. I noticed that he didn\'t bother to open his eyes.



"OH MY GOD! THERE\'S A GIRL BLEEDING! SOMEONE HELP ME GET HER INSIDE!" someone called causing Dad to leap into action.



He lifted me and turned toward the voice. It turned out that the voice was none other than Roy Mustang. Many other people gathered around and I just wanted to clobber them all.



"Oh, it\'s you Kiato, sir. I didn\'t know that you were still around," Roy said.



"Just lead me to the infirmary. If my daughter is bleeding then I have to get that taken care of first. We can deal with explanations later," Dad said in a very commanding voice.



"Right this way sir," Roy said grabbing Dad\'s shoulder nearest my head and guiding him to the infirmary.



Once we got there, Dad took me to a room and laid me on a bed so that the doctors could bandage me up. I was given some sort of sleeping medicine, because try as I might I ended up passing out not too long after the doctors left the room. I hated doctors and anything to do with sleeping; even if I did need the rest that didn\'t mean I hated it any less.



I woke up to Dad and Roy\'s conversation about what all happened since he was last here. I was kind of happy that I ended up in Amestris. At least I could take a quick trip to Winry\'s to get an automail leg. I slowly opened my eyes then sat up. All of my movements were unnoticed even though Dad was looking right at me.



I guess in this world he’s blind, I thought.



"Hate to interrupt your lovely conversation, but may I ask a question?" I asked the two men.



"You\'re not interrupting at all I was just about to wake you up. Kihara this is Fuhrer Roy Mustang. Roy this is Kihara she is my middle daughter," Dad explained.



"Nice to meet the daughter of The Angel Alchemist," Roy said reaching his hand out to shake mine.



"Nice to meet you too Fuhrer Mustang," I said gripping his hand in a formal handshake.



"What was that question of yours?" Roy asked releasing my hand.



"Just a question, but do you know where Ed and Al Elric are?" I asked holding my breath.



"Yeah, as a matter of fact I believe Ed\'s still sleeping in my office. He said that he was going to be going to Risembool for the weekend. I\'m sure that if you need to talk to him the three day train ride to Risembool will give you plenty of time," Roy said.



"I was planning on heading that way anyway, so yeah I guess I could talk to him on the way thanks. What day is it anyway?" I asked truly curious.



"It\'s Friday. I can go get a nurse to get you your final checkup if you want to leave now," Roy offered.



"Yeah, that would be nice. I hate being stuck in bed," I said and Roy left the room to get a nurse.



"So why are we going to Risembool besides talking to Ed and Al?" Dad asked.



"I need automail, and I figure that if Winry is the only one Ed trusts then I trust her too," I said bluntly.



"What makes you think I\'m going to let you get automail?" Dad asked.



"Because I can blearily stand walking down the road, so if walking is too slow, and limping is twice as slow, then I need to have all my limbs, or at least both legs. Trust me I know what I\'m getting myself into. I didn\'t make a sound when the Gate ripped my leg off. I\'m sure I can stand getting automail," I reasoned.



"Alright I can see there\'s no stopping you," Dad gave in just as Roy returned with a nurse.



She checked my vitals then said, "You\'re free to go."



She leaned a crutch against my bed and left the room. I took the crutch and walked around the room testing out just how fast I could move with the crutch.



"Kay, I think I got the hang of this thing. I\'d like to see Ed now, if I could," I said to Roy.



"Sure follow me," Roy said walking out of the room.



I followed after grabbing Dad\'s hand. Dad was quite surprised at how fast I could move with the crutch considering I just got it.



When we got to Roy\'s office he put his finger to his lips as he let us in. I could barely see a sleeping lump on a couch that just happened to be Ed\'s favorite. I let go of Dad\'s hand and went around to the front of the couch. I reached my hand out to wake the sleeping lump that was Ed, but then pulled my hand back. I did that a few more times before I took a couple steps back and poked him with my crutch.



“Mmph,” came his mumbled reply as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes waking up. “What is it?”



“Ed it’s time to get up I have some people I would like you to meet,” Roy said still standing at the door.



“Who are they?” Ed asked in a tired voice stretching his arms.



“This is Kiato Kyuseishu, The Angel Alchemist, and his daughter Kihara,” Roy said gesturing to each of us in turn.



“Hi,” Ed said still stretching.



“Hello Ed. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I was actually hoping I could talk to you and your brother if that is okay?” I asked.



“Sure, we have to go to Risembool. Lucky for you I was already planning on going there this weekend,” Ed said.



That said we all went to the train station and after a romantic good-bye between Ed and Roy we boarded the train. I didn’t want to ask anything while we were on the train, so I held my questions as best I could. Maybe I was just imagining it, but I could have swore Ed & Roy never got along in the manga. My gut is telling me there’s something going on between them, and my gut has never been wrong before. I’ll find it out all in due time. For now for some reason I just feel like sleeping.



I awoke at the end of the train ride to Dad nudging me awake. I grumbled for a bit as I got up and made my way off the train. We followed Ed silently with Dad keeping his hand on my shoulder so that he knew where we were going. When we arrived, Ed received a wrench in the face thrown by Winry.



“What was that for?” Ed asked rubbing his face where the wrench had hit him.



“For not coming sooner! And who’s this that you brought with you?” she asked.



“Hello, I’m Kihara and this is my father Kiato Kyuseishu. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I must say I love the work you do with automail. Is there any possible way you could hook me up with a leg?” I asked sucking up to her with no regrets what so ever.



“Of course, as long as you don’t mind me doing Ed’s first,” she said clearly flattered at my compliment.



“No problem,” I said.



“Great, now if you’ll excuse me I just have to take Ed’s measurements then I can take yours and I should have your leg attached by tomorrow,” she said as she left the room dragging Ed behind her.



“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Dad asked.



“I’m positive. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be running around with a crutch every single time I come to this world,” I said the last part in a hushed tone so that no one else would hear me.



“Hey, so you’re the ones Winry was talking about? Hi. I’m Alphonse, Ed’s younger brother. Call me Al for short,” said a sandy haired blond from behind us.



“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Kihara and this is my father Kiato,” I said.



“Ed said you had a question for both of us. What is it?” Al asked.



“If it’s not too much trouble I’d like to wait until I have my leg,” I said. “Just in case the answer you provide involves me going somewhere else.”



“Sure no problem. You’ll also need at least two days rest after the procedure,” he said nodding his head.



“If I must,” I sighed.



He laughed, and so did Dad. I rolled my eyes and decided to wander around the house. As I walked down a hallway I almost ran into Ed who was coming to retrieve me so Winry could take my measurements.



I walked into her workroom and she took out a tape measure. She measured my left leg.



"Okay I should have your leg finished by tonight," she said.



"Great the sooner the better," I said.



"The hardest part of the procedure is when we attach each individual nerve," she said.



"That\'s fine. I don\'t feel pain like other people do," I said.



"What\'s that supposed to mean?" she asked.



"Well . . . I didn\'t cry when my mom died, and I didn\'t cry or scream when the Gate ripped off my leg either. I don\'t know why but I guess I have a higher tolerance for pain than others," I said.



"If you don\'t mind my asking, have I seen you before? You look really familiar. I could have sworn I\'ve seen you before," she said.



"No. I\'ve never been here before but my twin sister has, and that\'s why I\'m here. You see we\'re playing a game and I kind of need to find my next clue to keep playing, but I kind of want my automail before I talk to Ed and Al about it," I said.



"Well then I\'ll whip up your leg faster than you can say \'transmutation circle\'," she said shooing me out the door and getting back to work.



I decided to chance going back into the living room. The air was tense as I walked in. I looked from Dad to Ed and Al then back again. I didn\'t know what they were waiting for but I guessed I could take a stab at it.



"I\'ll be getting my leg by tonight or tomorrow morning," I said and noticed Dad\'s slight flinch when I said it.



"That\'s great. She said I wouldn\'t have mine until sometime tomorrow. I guess sucking up to her is worth it after all," Ed said. "So since you\'ll have it soon do you want to ask that question of yours?"



"Sure. I have a twin sister Kahiri Kyuseishu. We\'re playing hide and seek. She said in her last note to talk to you guys for my next clue," I said holding my breath again.



"Oh, that\'s why you looked so familiar. She was in the infirmary at the same time we came back. She gave me a little slip of paper and told me to give it to Ed, and then disappeared. When I came here a few days later Winry said she just got finished making an arm for a girl. She said that the girl left almost right after she got it," Al said.



"That\'s what that thing was that you told me to hide? Okay well, it\'s in the library in central. I put it in Introduction to Alchemy. I figured it was the one place not many other alchemists at central would look," Ed said.



"Well, that helps. Thanks guys, now all I have to do is wait for Winry to finish my leg, get it attached, and then I can be on my way," I said.



I ended up getting my leg that night. I didn’t realize how much it hurt, I didn’t scream because it wasn’t that bad. I just felt like my leg was on fire. Dad insisted that I at least get a good night’s sleep. I consented mostly so he\'d shut up. I didn\'t really sleep that well and ended up staring at the ceiling.