CM: Hello all! I decided to do an FMA story because I love it so much and I finally got around to writing one. So, read and tell me what you think!

Disclaimers: Don't own FMA yadda yadda meh

Chapter One: Ambitions and Regulations

It was a calm and quiet day at Eastern Central. Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang sat at his desk, staring out the window, watching the clouds build up. No doubt it would rain later that day. Peace was broken by a commotion outside his office.

"You can't go in there!"

"But I need to! It's important."

"I'm sorry miss but you really mustn't…"

Suddenly, his door burst open. A young girl of seventeen with waist-length dark brown hair and startling blue eyes stumbled in. "I'm here to join the army!" She announced with a salute.

Roy stared at her for a moment before glancing around his room, "Alright guys, very funny. Let this kid go back to wherever you stole her from."

"We don't know where she came from Colonel," Jean Havoc told the flame alchemist.

"We tried to stop her," Fuery said despairingly.

"And you couldn't stop one girl from entering my office?" Roy asked, raising an eyebrow at the pair.

"That's mean, Roy," the girl said, crossing her arms. "Is this really the same Pony Boy I knew several years ago?" Roy's eyes grew wide as he realized who was standing before him.

"Pony…Boy?" Fuery and Havoc asked at the same time. Their mouths started twitching as they tried to hold in the laughs that were coming.

"Um….I guess you know her, sir, so…" Fuery started.

"We'll….get back….to work," Havoc finished leading the way out the door. The moment they were out of earshot they burst out laughing, unable to hold it any longer.

"Kathleen," Roy said slowly, his surprise quickly being replaced with a mixture of embarrassment and irritation. "Weren't you supposed to still be in school?"

"I graduated early," Kat told him with a smile. Her name was Kathleen, but she preferred the nickname. "So now I'm here to become a full-fledged state alchemist."

Just then the door opened again as Maes Hughes stepped into the room. "Oh, Roy, I forgot to mention that….Well, I see you've already figured it out. My little sister came back today to become a state alchemist…isn't it wonderful?"

"Hughes," Roy said, giving his friend an irate look. "How could you forget something like that? You talk about her almost constantly."

"Okay, I admit, I wanted it to be a surprise," Hughes admitted.

"Well…you did a wonderful job with that," Roy commented. "NEXT TIME something like this comes up, DON'T WAIT TO TELL ME!!"

"Alright, the next time one of my family members decides to join the army, I'll be sure to tell you right away," Hughes answered with a smile and a pat on Kathleen 's shoulder.

Kat gave a small giggle. "Heehee, I'm so excited. I've been waiting years for this moment!"

"You do realize the test doesn't even begin until two weeks from now," Roy told her.

The dark haired girl sighed. "Yeah, I know. I hope I'll do alright."

Roy rolled his eyes and gave Hughes a *get her out of here now* look.

"I'm sure that no matter what challenges you face during your exam you will come out on top as always," Hughes told her reassuringly.

*bang, bash* "I SAID LET ME GO. YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ME GET SERIOUS."

"Yeah yeah, be quiet, kid."

"What is it with all the ruckus this morning?" Roy asked out loud in annoyance.

"Hmm, I dunno," Hughes said.

"Hey, Kat maybe you should…" He looked at the spot where his little sister had been only to find that she had vanished from sight. Both men exchanged a look that clearly said 'oh dang it, not again'.

The two ran out to see Kat standing over a floored soldier guy while a girl with red hair sat to the side rubbing her head gingerly as if someone had been trying to pull her hair out. Looking at her, she was probably about the same age as Kat.

"You shouldn't treat people like that," Kat admonished.

"What did you do that for, Kat?" Hughes asked going to help the downed soldier up.

"What I want to know is who THAT kid is," Roy replied focusing on the redhead.

"What's it to you?" the red head retorted angrily rubbing her head.

"Sir," the soldier said to Roy. "That girl is an Ishbalen."

"What are you talking about?" Kat said with a smile. "If you're talking about her skin, don't you think it looks like it's from a tanning booth? And she has green eyes. Right, big bro?"

Hughes looked at his sister for a moment before looking at the redhead. "Well… Kat has a point."

Roy was also staring at the red-headed girl, and then, catching the pleading look on Kat's face, he understood. "Leave the girl with me, soldier."

"Sir!" The soldier saluted before taking off.

The redhead stared at the retreating soldier in surprise, then she glanced at the three who had made him let her go. When nobody said anything for a few minutes, the red head stood up and brushed herself off. "Thanks for that. I guess I'll be going then," she said turning to walk out the door.

"Stop right there," Roy commanded.

"Why should I, Mr. Big Man? I've got no reason to be here and you've got no right to hold me," she declared spinning around.

"On the contrary," Roy said. "I could have let you be thrown into prison."

"Young lady, what were you doing in this area, if I may ask?" Hughes inquired.

"I wasn't in this area. That guy dragged me here from the outskirts of town," she told them, angrily pointing in the direction the soldier had walked.

"What reason did you give him for doing that?" Roy asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I didn't do anything. I just happened to be walking nearby when someone shouted out that I was Ishbalan, fat chance of that, and then that guy carted me off."

"I was wondering, what is your name, young lady?" Hughes asked with a warm smile.

"I don't have to give you my name, it's not like you absolutely need it or anything," she replied with a frown.

Hughes continued to smile at her without a word and she tried very hard not to look at his welcoming face. Finally, she cracked and looked back at the three. "My name is….Elly," she told them grudgingly.

"A pleasure, Elly," Hughes said cordially.

"I have work I need to get back to," Roy said shortly. "Hughes, since it was your sister who chose to get herself involved, her first call to duty will be to keep an eye on this girl until further notice."

"Cool, I have a new friend," Kat said cheerily.

"Great….I have to stay with this happy-go-lucky girl? I don't see how I'm going to survive," Elly grumbled under her breath.

"Don't be like that….I'm sure you and Kat will become best of friends," Hughes said encouragingly.

"Kat?....meow," Elly said, amused.

"That's not very nice," Kat said with a small frown. But not two seconds later the smile was back on and she took hold of the girl's arm. "Come on, let's go do some exploring." And away they went.

"She's so cute," Hughes said lovingly. Then he added a sly, "…and single."

"Don't push it, Hughes," Roy growled. He then turned around and went back to his office to cool his aching head.

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"Let go. Where are you taking me?" Elly asked as she attempted to pull away from the energetic girl.

"I already told you," Kat said, coming to a halt and facing the red head. "We're exploring. I'm going to be working here soon, so I want to scope out my new surroundings."

"Exploring? You've got to be kidding me. Just let go already, I have things I need to do and I don't have time to waste with anyone in the army," Elly told her savagely.

"Yeah, but if I let you go, the guy who might be employing me could get angry. I know you could probably care less, but this job means the world to me. I spent seven years going through school and went through seven hells worth of training. So, say what you want, but you're stuck with me." Kat then gave her a friendly smile. "So you might as well enjoy yourself."

Elly grimaced at the thought but she really didn't want to cause someone else too much trouble. She allowed herself to be dragged all over the town without complaint. Partway through the exploration Elly found herself actually enjoying the soldier's company. She began to smile and laugh a little, despite her best efforts not to show anything.

Halfway through the journey, the two girls were stopped by a bunch of thug-like characters. "Please let us by," Kat told them.

"Oh we will," one said grinning. "Once we get a fee that is."

"I really don't want to have to hurt you," Kat said genuinely.

They all laughed. "Let's take 'em both." And they charged.

Kat sighed. "Fine, you brought this on yourself." Dropping her bags, she ducked down just as they came and did a sweeping kick, knocking them all off-balance. One of the thugs knocked to the ground tried grabbing a hold of Elly's ankle in an attempt to drag her down.

"I've had enough of this," Elly said with a smirk of anger. "I've been looking for someone to take this anger out on."

She gave the man a kick before, quicker than the eyes could follow, drawing a symbol and placing her hands on the ground turning the earth into sand and covering the offenders from head to toe in hardened sand.

"Now, I feel much better," Elly said standing up and brushing her hands off.

"Wow," Kat said in surprise. "So you can use alchemy too, huh?"

"Yeah….sort of," Elly replied with a shrug. She turned back to the goons who had attacked them and glared hard. "Anyone else want to take a shot at hurting us?" she dared, somewhat hoping they would.

Those who hadn't been trapped quickly made a run for it. "Make good choices!" Kat shouted after them.

Turning back to Elly, she continued. "Hmm, have you ever considered becoming a state alchemist? We could take the test together and become partners and travel the world bringing justice on our shoulders!" She said with proverbial fire in her eyes.

Elly just sat there and stared at her like she was of a completely different species. "Me…become a state alchemist? Ha, yeah right. There's no way I'd ever take that stupid test. I don't like the army and never will, and I'm not about to join it."

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"No, she is not taking the test and she is not joining the army," Roy said not even looking up from his paper work.

"But, I don't want to take the test alone," Kat said. "There might be some really creepy guys there."

"Whether there are or not, it wouldn't matter if she did take it with you or not….only one person becomes a state alchemist per test," Roy told her signing one of the papers and moving it into a stack of finished papers.

"Well then," Kat said. "I have a proposition."

"And that would be?" Roy asked not looking at her.

"When I become a state alchemist and get my own apartment, I want her to be able to live with me and be my partner."

He finally glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow, "And why would you want to have an Ishbalan living in the same room as you?"

"That's surprisingly mean of you," Kat said.

"You were here for five minutes and you had already involved yourself with matters you should have stayed out of," Roy said, finally putting his paperwork down and looking at her. "I have half a mind to have Hughes send you back home."

Kat's face turned serious for a moment. "You wouldn't."

"You know me better than that Kat. If I feel that you are continuing to get into things you shouldn't, I will have you sent home," Roy threatened.

"Geez, you're worse than my brother," Kat said with a sigh, but she smiled nonetheless. "She's alone. She doesn't have any family whatsoever."

"And you don't know anything about her," Roy added.

"I can tell she's a trustworthy person," Kat said firmly.

"What makes you say that?" Roy asked. "How can you be sure that that girl is not just playing you for a sap?"

Kat stared at him. There were so many things that she wanted to say, and she knew that this would be her last chance. But instead, she took a deep breath before speaking. "If she does, then I'll take all the responsibility for it."

Roy smiled for the first time, "Good, because if anything goes wrong, you will pay the penalty for all of it."

"Thank you, sir," Kat said, bowing.

"Don't act so formal. I'm not your boss yet," Roy said getting back to his paperwork.

"Aha!" She exclaimed with triumph. "So you admit that I'm capable of passing the test."

"Just because I'm not yet your boss doesn't mean that I ever will be," Roy replied with a small grin.

"Just you wait, Mustang," Kat said, smiling as she headed out the door. "By next week, I'm gonna have a new watch."

He waited until she left the room before muttering to himself, "Somehow, I seriously doubt that."

Back outside Elly was sitting down on one of the benches…alone…waiting for Kat to come back out. Once she spotted her she raised an eyebrow in question, "So how'd it go?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, I talked it over with the colonel and it took some convincing," Kat said grinning. "But, I managed to convince him. You're going to be living with me from now on. Isn't that great?"

Elly's face turned a greenish-red color, "Wait, so I'm going to be stuck here….in this city….unable to go anywhere…..unless you come with me? I won't be able to travel anywhere?"

"Well, we'll probably traveling once I'm a state alchemist, but, yeah. That pretty much sums it up," Kat said not dropping the smile.

"Great, just great. Looks like I'm going to be hitting the road. I'll drop you a line whenever I decide to," Elly said, taking a few steps backward.

"Hey, I'm serious," Kat told her. "It's either that or prison."

"What's the difference?"

"Oh, that's cold. Come on, it won't be so bad," Kat assured her. "It'll be fun."

"You really don't understand what it means for me to be stuck with the army do you?" she asked as she sat back down, resigning herself to her *imprisonment*. "I didn't plan on coming to this town you know….that just sort of….happened."

"I realize that," Kat said with a nod. "I wasn't being serious when I said you had a tan. I'm not that naïve." One thing she couldn't stand was racism. "But think of it this way. By being here, you could be making a stand."

"Oh, yeah right….the most I'd be doing is walking a razor's edge. I'm sure that the moment something goes wrong, even if I didn't cause it, I'm going to be blamed for it." Elly had her head in her hands now and was staring at the ground in utter defeat.

Kat sat down next to her. "It's painful, isn't it? Being shunned, being looked down on, being treated as if you weren't even a human being." At the girl's questioning look she said. "I've had my share of rejection. But if anything happens, I promise you won't take the fall. At least not without me."

Elly stared at her for a moment, trying to decide if she meant it or not. "You aren't just pulling my leg, are you?" she finally asked, her eyes examining every inch of her face for something that might give her away.

"No, but I might be pulling your arm in just a minute," Kat said, seeing her brother come running up from behind Elly.

"Hey Kit-Kat, have you been keeping out of trouble?" Hughes asked her teasingly.

"Of course," Kat said with a smile.

"Glad to hear it. Roy told me the news."

"And what do you think?" Kat asked.

"I think it will be a wonderful opportunity for you, helping out this poor orphan girl," Hues replied, motioning toward Elly.

"How do you know I'm an orphan?" she asked scathingly. "For all you know I could have a family out there."

"You very well could, and if you do we'll be sure to send them the message that you'll be staying with a friend for a time," he answered still smiling. "We wouldn't want to make them worry. Now, what is their address?"

"It's……I don't know," Elly released. "Just promise me that, if I do stay here, you'll leave me alone."

"Don't look so down, big bro," Kat told the crestfallen Hughes. "She just needs some time to adjust."

"Yes, of course," Hughes said. "Oh, by the way Kat, if you want to do well on the alchemist test you might want to study up. The library is open to guests so use it to your heart's content."

"See, what did I tell you?" Kat said to Elly before taking her by the arm and dragging her down the hall. "Let's go! Thanks, big brother!"

"I can walk on my own you know. You don't have to drag me everywhere you go," Elly shouted at her.

Kat didn't seem to have heard her, however, and continued to drag her along all the way to the end of the hall and around the corner. They didn't stop until they reached the library.

"I'm going to be sooo bored," Elly thought as Kat pulled her through the doors.

Kat dove straight into the books and got to work on memorizing what she needed to for the test. No matter what, she had to pass this test and show Roy that she WAS capable of becoming a state alchemist.

Elly watched her enthusiasm for several minutes, "So, why are you so enthusiastic about this thing? I mean, you may have to kill people once you become a soldier."

Kat smiled sadly. "I know. But, it was something that I've always dreamed of doing. Something happened a long time ago, when I was just a child. But it changed my life forever. And I made a promise that I would become a state alchemist, no matter what the cost, so that I will be able to travel the world and help people."

Elly wondered what could have made her want to join the army so badly, but she caught a very strong feeling from Kat and didn't press the issue. Instead, she decided to try to find something to read, "I might as well, if I'm going to be in here for a while," she thought, leaving Kat to her book-reading.

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CM: Not bad for a start eh? Next chapter there will be more action, I promise. So stay tuned! ;)