Author's Notes:

This is it everyone, the final chapter! Originally I had planned on this story being much longer, but the pure size of it grew out of hand, so I've decided to cap it here. Perhaps I'll add later time stamps, but the story will be marked complete. And I know it's been a long time since I last updated, but thanks for waiting and for all the encouragement along the way. I appreciate you all so much for all the support you've given me throughout this story so for all of you, here it is, the end.

Summary: Transmuted into the heart of the Ishvalan War at the age of thirteen, Sakura must learn to survive in Amestris as she is forced to participate in the genocide. With no where left to go after the war, she is adopted by Roy Mustang and must continue forward, trying to find a way home among the chaos of the military and the Elric brothers. Parental Roy!

Thank you for reading and I do not, nor ever will, own Fullmetal Alchemist or Naruto.

And for the last time, please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter 11: Home

~Sakura's POV~

It had been almost a year since I arrived according to Masutangu-san. Almost a year of this burning sand, almost a year sold to Truth and Amestris to fight in this war that I had nothing to do with. It felt more like eternity. I could hardly remember a time where the wind didn't sting my face and the constant in my life was injury, it didn't matter whether it was mine or others.

I looked down briefly, could see the edges of the scar where I'd been shot, peeking out through the neck of the shirt that Hōkuai-san had left me. There were more now, hidden under the shirt as well, secret injuries that no one but Marukō-san and I had seen. Masutangu-san would have worried too much if he had known. Marukō-san had probably told him, but I lived with the belief that I didn't cause any unnecessary worry.

"Sakura?" Hōkuai-san asked, her eyes turned to me in concern. She'd tanned more since I met her, her darkened skin contrasting her blond hair now. I could tell I'd done the same, even without a mirror. My feet were dark and calloused, though most of that was probably dirt. I looked like I truly belonged to this desert now. I probably did, all things considered. This place had such a huge grip on me that it almost felt like a crime to leave.

"I was thinking. It is…" I paused for a second, struggling for a word to encapsulate what I was thinking, "fucked up that the war is ending?" I looked at her, checking to see if the usage was correct. The finer points of Amestrian grammar and colloquialisms still escaped me. But I'd heard the phrase used often around the campfires so I didn't think I was too unknowing of its meaning.

"It is," she agreed, even if her face was tight. Perhaps I'd chosen the wrong word.

"I will miss you."

Her face softened to something into something reminiscent of my mother. Hōkuai-san, in her all her brevity and military demeanor, had protected me, had proven to be the closest thing to a mother I had in Ishval. Pain lanced through me when I realized I wouldn't see her after the war. We would both be heading our different ways.

"I'll miss you too, Sakura."

"Where will you go?" I asked, turning my head away so she couldn't see my blush. I couldn't help it, it was nice to know that I wouldn't be forgotten, even in a place such as Amestris.

"I don't know, but I'll most likely stay with Major Mustang."

I smiled at that idea, Hōkuai-san protecting Masutangu-san. I had come to know that the she was one of the finest sharpshooters in the Amestrian army, the one who had shot me down on my first day. She would be perfect to follow Masutangu-san. She would ensure that he wouldn't be harmed. She would ensure that he wouldn't work himself too hard, drown too much in the horrors of what we had seen. Hōkuai-san would protect him.

I couldn't follow him, keep him safe after this. I couldn't repay the great debt I owed him. Undoubtedly, I would disappear into the Amestrian military. I had no doubts about my fate. A foreigner with no legal records, it would be easy to make me disappear. Everyone had known it would happen and everyone had given me such a wide berth in the last day it was like I'd already been labeled dead.

But I could at least be satisfied knowing that Hōkuai-san would be there.

"Please, Masutangu-san safe," I said, knotting my fingers in my pants.

"I'll keep him safe. You have my word, Sakura," Hōkuai-san promised, nodding her head.

She finally turned back to the reason we were out here, her sentry duty. Her eyes scanned the desert, watching for any sign of movement, anything other than the wind blowing sand across the dunes. On the day the soldiers were being shipped home, the final day of our war, she would not let anything happen to us.

The tower we sat in was old and rickety, probably unstable, but the stones hadn't given way yet, so we counted our blessings. It was just the two of us up in the lookout, the only connection through an old trapdoor in the floor.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye!" The two of us turned at the sound of Hyūzu-san's call. He'd opened the trapdoor with his left hand, balancing two cups of steaming coffee in his right. It was early enough that the heat was still appreciated. The desert nights were cold, harsh and freezing in comparison to the days, and right now the morning was cool enough that it was almost comfortable. "Fresh batch. Mustang just heated it up. Thank god for flame alchemy."

Hyūzu-san's tone was light, bouncier now that the end of the war was in sight for him. He set a cup down next to Hōkuai-san, coming to sit on my other side. He sighed as he sat down, letting his legs splay out in front of him haphazardly, in no way prepared for anything. He was being far too careless in his mannerisms, but neither Hōkuai-san nor I said anything. The war was almost over for him, he could be allowed this.

"And you, Sakura, finally getting to get out of here!" Hyūzu-san exclaimed, ruffling my hair with his hand affectionately. "I promise, not all of Amestris is this bad!" His tone was jovial and teasing, even if I didn't understand several of the words in the statement. It felt reassuring anyways and that was appreciated.

"Where will you go?"

"I have my beautiful girlfriend Gracia to return to!" Hyūzu-san pulled out of a picture of the fair woman. I had seen it many times, but it made me smile still. I vaguely wished I had been able to meet Gracia. I wanted to know what she was like, if she was truly as amazing as Hyūzu-san described her to be. He spoke about her with such warm affection, something that this land was truly deprived of.

He didn't bother asking where I would go.

"Come to Central at one point," Hyūzu-san declared loudly, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "She'll make you the best pie. Her apple is heavenly, food of the gods! I've never tasted food so good!" Hōkuai-san silently shook her head on my other side, reaching to take a sip of her coffee.

"Pie?" I asked, tilting to my head to the side in my confusion. I had never heard of pie before.

"You don't have pie in Konoha?" Hyūzu-san's expression turned incredulous, eyes comically large behind his dirt-stained glasses in a way that only he could manage.

I shook my head.

"You have to come to Central then when you get the chance!" he roared out suddenly, making even Hōkuai-san jump in her surprise and spill her coffee off the edge of the tower. Hōkuai-san glared at him sharply and Hyūzu-san could do nothing but scratch the back of his neck in embarrassment. The relief of leaving was making him foolish. He quietly gave me his own cup, so I could hand it off to Hōkuai-san.

"If you're gonna be loud, then leave," she grumbled out, her eyes turning back to the desert. I was surprised she was even letting anyone be up here with her. She always said it ruined her conversation, but I supposed the end of the war was making us all careless. This was the end of such habits for them. "I'm serious, you have to go annoy Mustang and I've got a job to do, Hughes."

He waved her off, turning back to me expectantly.

I didn't say a word, but nodded anyways, if only to appease him.

"Trust Roy. He won't let you get taken away," Hyūzu-san said quietly, looking down at me with those smiling and confident eyes of his. "He's gonna save you from Amestris. He'll get you to a good home."

"Home?"

I had heard the word thrown around a lot, especially in the last several days, some sort of destination that everyone headed off to inevitably. Was it some sort of military base or compound, some code for another battlefield?

"You know, home. Where friends and family are. Where it's safe," Hyūzu-san tossed back. My eyes widened considerably at that. Home. Safety. Family. There was nothing I wanted more at this point, nothing that could mean more to me. After so long of this, all I wanted was home. Even if it wasn't safe, even if it wasn't Konoha, at least isn't want this. I'd take any home I could get my hands on at this point.

"Home," I repeated with longing, my eyes dropping.

"Don't worry, Roy will get you there."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." He ruffled my hair again, his voice more kind than anything. He'd calmed down considerably, spilled into more serious territory. "If I know Roy, he's got something special cooked up to get you out of here. Find him before he heads out. He'll want to talk to you."

I nodded. I could only hope that Masutangu-san was as reliable as Hyūzu-san made him out to be. I had no reason to doubt, but some part of me did anyways, the part of me that was resigned to this life and the life I would have in an Amestrian lab somewhere.

I could only hope that Hyūzu-san was right.

"You know, they've got a new name for you. A bunch of the guys thought you were a State Alchemist, even though you were so young so they thought up a name for you," Hyūzu-san imparted, moving to go downstairs back to whatever job he was supposed to be doing. Grinning, he opened the trap door.

"What?"

"The Gauntlet Alchemist."

"No," I casually threw back, shaking my head. Stopping in his tracks, Hyūzu-san looked at me with eyebrows raised. Even Hōkuai-san looked back over at me. "The Chakra Alchemist. That's what my name would be."

"The Chakra Alchemist. I'll be sure to tell them," he threw back with a wide grin, his eyes alight with some degree of fun.

The trap door closed definitively behind him.

I found Masutangu-san, hours later. The camp was almost fully dismantled, tents being pulled away around me, supplies being stored and filed away. Crates were being carried to different trucks, soldiers shouting at each other as they carried them. People were lining up, ready to get carted away in huge trucks. The camp had become a living breathing thing, shuffling itself away as it prepared to leave. The Amestrian army was leaving, handing the desert back to whoever came to claim it next.

I shifted through the mess of bodies, moving to find Masutangu-san. People around me shouted orders and farewells to each other. Several people I had come to know in the med-tents stopped me to say goodbye, even gave me addresses and told me to write.

I nodded my thanks and moved on. We all knew it was a farce, but no one could bear to ruin the day by exposing it.

When Masutangu-san saw me, a smile lit up his face, an action almost so foreign that I was completely shocked. He walked over, his duffel bag slung over his left shoulder, his coat whipping around him in the light wind of Ishval. He was just as ready as everyone else to leave, ready to abandon Ishval with the rest of them.

He was going to leave me.

"Sakura," he greeted, his voice filled with some kind of lighthearted happiness that I didn't get to understand.

"You're leaving," I stated, eyes downcast. I knew where this was going and I didn't like it any more than I had imagined I would. This was his goodbye and I was stuck here. Tears pricking at my eyes, I blinked furiously, trying to will them away.

"I am."

I'd been lied to. Masutangu-san had no way to save me. He was going to leave and I would be stuck here with Amestris. I rubbed at my eyes, unwilling to cry in front of him.

"Be safe," I managed, fighting around the tears that threatened to choke my throat. Those words were all I could give him as he went on his way.

"Sakura."

~Roy's POV~

"Sakura," I said, kneeling down so I could speak more on her level. I ducked my head down, dipping into her line of sight. She stared at me with inquisitive eyes, rubbing at her eyes to fight back tears. The sand scorched my knees, but this was the last time I would ever feel it, so I didn't mind. I could deal with this fire one last time.

"I'm not leaving you." Her eyes snapped to mine immediately as I tried to dispel her worries. "I'm not going to leave you to the military," I repeated again, just to make sure she would understand. She nodded, rubbing at her eyes more furiously. "I found a way to get you out. If you were to become a legal resident of Amestris, they couldn't take you without permission. You're too young so you would have to have a legal guardian who would have to give permission. I know this isn't exactly the home you wanted, but I can offer you mine."

Her eyes widened considerably, her hands flying to her mouth in surprise.

"I made a couple of calls and arranged for adoption papers to be drawn up. If you would like, I can take you home with me. You would be my daughter," I explained, almost nervous. I had never imagined taking care of a child before, especially one as scarred and traumatized as Sakura, but I would be happy to now. I wouldn't regret this. Even if she didn't know it, she had saved many of us during the war, given hope to us all. This was the least that I could do for her, that any of us could do.

She stared at me, wordless for a second, and I cursed to myself, suddenly realizing the problem. She didn't know words like 'adoption' or 'resident.' Of course she wouldn't understand what I was talking about. She wouldn't understand what I was offering. And in such a busy station with hundreds of transports going in and out, she would have likely understood even less.

She flung her arms around my neck suddenly.

"Thank you. Thank you," she managed, her voice choked, not letting go. I smiled, pulling her close to me, wrapping my arms around her. Ishval had destroyed many things, many lives, but I at least had not allowed it to destroy her.

"Let's go home."

~Sakura's POV~

I couldn't let go of Masutangu-san. If I did, he would see the tears in my eyes and I was too embarrassed. I, the fearsome monster of the med-tents, had been rendered helpless by his statement, too relieved and happy that I could get out of here, that I could go with him. He held me to him in a hug and it was the closest thing I'd had to home in almost a year. After months and months of hell, I was finally going home.

Home. I had a home.

And with Masutangu-san.

"Let's go home."

"Home," I parroted back, nodding into his shoulder. He picked me up in his arms, duffel still slung across his back.

Over his shoulder I could see Hōkuai-san and Hyūzu-san smiling, looking on the scene with something fond. I buried my face back in Masutangu-san's shoulder, gripping at him tighter. I had this much in this new strange world. I had this much and I would cling to it.

"Home."