winry

she wanted edward to see her as something more. but how? this was the question that led winry rockbell to a fateful experiment in an art she didn't understand.

'okay, start simple i guess. some coal and this rock...' winry said to herself.

she had learned the basic rules of alchemy from overheard rumours and a book she had found that claimed to have the secrets of alchemy. it wasn't as simple to her as a machine, but she understood it... she hoped. it said to start simple, and this lump of coal and this lump of rock, the same size and mass, would be enough to convert to a gemstone according to her book.

'okay... equal mass... same basic attributes... i understand the makeup and energy of them...' she muttered, then realised the mistake.

they had no energy, did they? they were rocks! but coal could burn... okay, that was the energy then. she guessed if she burned the coal with the rock inside the circle the energy could be manipulated. she had more coal, and more rocks, so she could make a mistake and not lose materials.

she drew the transmutation circle, using ink on a metal table so it was easy to clean. she put the rock on the coal, and lit it.

she found, a few minutes later, she was doing something wrong. she consulted her book, and decided to redraw the circle, thinking this was the error. she went to fetch the ink.

'whoops.' she fumbled the bottle, spilling it onto the floor. she looked in dismay at the mess, and sighed. she'd have to clean that up first...

once the ink was cleaned, she had a problem. no ink! but then she saw the coal. it had simply burned down to cinders, and so, smearing the ashes and dust, she drew a different circle.

this time, it worked. sort of. to her bemusement, when the coal burned away, the rock had become coal, a large lump twice as big as before.

'was that meant to happen?' she asked the book as she flicked through it. it spoke no answer. she tried again.

unknown to her, the middle of this lump of coal was a defect. inside, a small amount of a flammable gas had somehow become trapped inside. it would change the whole process.

she lit the coal. it burned, and sure enough, the rock seemed to change. and then the coal exploded.

'aaah!' she cried out as there was a bright flash. she opened her eyes, and saw the coal and rock were gone. instead, a greyish mist was slowly floating around the room and disspating.

'what just happened?' she pondered, then saw a strange event. the metal below where the coal had been seemed... duller. she touched it. it was... rock?

'it turned part of my table to rock?' she pondered.

then she saw the effect was spreading. without thinking, she put her other hand on the spreading effect. then she felt her fingers that had first touched the transmutated table tingle and go numb. she looked at saw with horror they were turning the same grey! her fingers were turning to stone.

quickly she consulted the book, looking for something to cure it, but as the effect spread, her hands felt stiff. it became nearly impossible to turn the pages, and then she dropped the book, slipping from her now rigid hands.

in a panic, she tried to think of something to cure this. she thought maybe if she was fast she could tell edward and he could help. it would be embarrising, but better than having stone hands to explain... or worse, becoming entirely stone. she raced to the door, feeling her arms grow stiff and thinking that maybe her legs were stiff too. her stone hands however fumbled the door handle. in desperation, she hit the door.  

she was shocked to see a small crack appear in her hand. frightened, she stumbled back. she was stuck in this room. only she could save herself.

she rushed around, feeling herself growing stiffer and stiffer. her limbs that could move were heavy, and her arms were stone to her elbows. she tried to carefully pick items up, tried to read the book again. she saw with hope the effect on the table had stopped, spreading out only inside the circle. but it didn't stop with her.

with her shoulders petrified and arms useless, winry stiffly tried to use the rigid limbs and her waist to move things to the circle. she turned her hips to try and pick something else up, and almost lost balance. she fell, but her stone arms caught on the table. teetering and unable to push herself to a more stable position, winry could only wait in terror.

the effect kept spreading, and she discovered that somehow it had been spreading unseen up her legs. they were stone too. it spread, leaving her somehow concious every moment as her flesh became stone. it ended only when her whole body was stone. the off-balance petrified form of winry teetered. but inside, she still thought. her mind was not stone. she could not hear, see, speak, smell or even feel, cut from her senses by petrification, but not without hope.

someone can find me, right? someone can find me and change me back?

her poor balance would be her downfall. the stone arm, all between her and a nasty fall, began to crack along her earlier damage. it broke off, and winry fell, unaware of her fate. hitting the floor, she broke apart. she was in large enough parts, bar a few crumbled spots of dust, but winry's experiment had petrified and shattered her. alone, cut off from her senses, and now unaware she was broken into dozens of pieces, winry held hope

i can be cured of this. i just need to be patient...


*~*~*

hinata

'i wish i could make him see me...' hinata sighed.

she was pining over naruto again, her crush on her blond fellow ninja having never abated in years. but she could never tell him. she had recently considered that if she had some way for him to notice, then she wouldn't have to try and tell him herself. she'd probably still freak out, but he'd notice her.

of course, she was hardly secretive about this. the way she often said it out loud soon meant that within a day everyone but naruto himself knew what she was talking about.

'maybe if i had some way to make myself more beautiful...' she wondered.

she remembered she had once tried to speak to naruto and had wound up changing her subject to asking if he thought she could change her look any. he'd replied she thought she looked okay just now, oblivious as always to the crush she had on him.

'that's it! if i find a way to stay like i am, he might notice me! i wonder if there's any way to be beautiful for a long time.'

she'd thought maybe there was a jutsu to help, and had tried to discreetly research it. her efforts somehow came to the attention of someone she probably would rather had not discovered them.

***

a few days later, she found an anonymous letter addressed to her.

'come to the cave near the waterfall in the south. i can give you what you want.' it said.

hinata at first thought it was a prank and someone was playing a joke, but even the slim possibilty it was from naruto was enough to have her racing out the door until she calmed herself. she considered the options. if it was a joke, she could just show up and try and see who was there first. if it was someone who wanted to help her, then it would be okay. if it was naruto... she'd probably faint.

2 out of 3 outcomes seemed to not be bad, and even if it was a prank she could avoid it. she decided to go. but a little stealthier than she had ran out the door the first time...

the cave in question was just behind a small waterfall. it wasn't very big, but it was still difficult to see if anyone was inside as she neared. she went in carefully, checking behind her for someone playing a prank. but there was no one outside. but as she went in she saw a light inside.

'h...hello?' she said, hesitantly as she went in. she found a torch burning, but no one was there.

she was surprised when someone appaeared behind her, a pale skinned man with long hair wearing brown.

'orochimaru!' she almost screamed.

'don't be alarmed. my message to you told the truth. i can help you.' he said.

'how?' she said. she knew there wasn't any way out, he blocked the only exit.

'i can preserve your beauty forever, just as you want.'

'i don't believe you.'

'let me show you.' he said, and before she knew it he had transformed. his hair stood on end, his eyes glowed, and his skin was white and scaly. hinata realised his hair was forming into snakes.

'what...' she said, before she felt herself transfixed. she couldn't move, couldn't speak. couldn't even move her eyes, could only stare forward.

'what am i doing? i am giving you eternal beauty and eternal life.i drain your life force, and as long as you are here you will never age or tarnish, so long as i live. it won't be truly eternal, a few centuries at most, but the more like you i have to drain, the longer we will all live.'

what have you done to me? hinata thought.

she felt herself growing cold, a spreading feeling of numbness across her body. orocihmaru changed himself to his human appearance again, and produced a small mirror.

'see for yourself as your beauty is preserved.' he said.

hinata would have cried out if she could. her skin and clothes were turning grey. he was turning her into a statue!

i don't want this kind of eternal beauty! she protested.

orochimaru took the mirror away as her skin was losing the last of its colour. he stroked her chin.

'aren't you glad now? you'll have this smooth skin for centuries. as long as i'm draining life from you, you're immortal. you might feel a little lonely just now though. don't worry about that.' he said, as he left.

'i'll soon have someone to keep you company.' he finished as he walked away and her transformation ended.

hinata was alone, unable to move. she could only stare forward, she felt numb all over, and her hearing was muffled. she wanted to free herself from this, but knew she was helpless unless someone rescued her...

despite her dire situation, the first thought to cross her mind at the idea of rescue was typical.

w...what if naruto saves me? what'll i say to explain how i got into this?! she fretted, even unable to get over her crush as a statue.