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“I know I’m not alone,” said Kuro softly. She looked at Izumi. “But—my mother died protecting me from the military and then—my brother was taken from me when I tried to resurrect her. If I kill her, it’ll be like losing both her and my brother all over again.”

“That Homunculus is not truly your mother,” whispered Izumi. “The dead can never truly return.”

“But that is her!” cried Kuro.

“That is enough for one day, get some rest,” said Izumi in a motherly tone. “You can sleep as long as you wish.”

“Thank you, Sensei,” muttered Kuro. “For everything.” She walked over to her bed and instantly collapsed from her exhaustion. Izumi smiled at the sight and walked to the dining room.

“Sensei, what happened?” asked Al the moment he spotted Izumi.

“Is Kuro alright?” asked Ed, standing from his chair.

“Everything is fine,” answered Izumi tiredly. She sighed and took a seat. “Where’s Sig?”

“Colonel Mustang showed up and is buying some meat,” answered Ed grudgingly.

“What does he think he’s doing serving a military dog?” asked Izumi, flaring up. She marched to the door. Al stopped her from leaving.

“He’s not worth your time, Sensei,” said Ed calmly. “He isn’t even on duty right now and he knows that if any harm comes to anyone, he’ll have me to answer to.”

“Me too!” cried Al.

“Did you two—repair the damage?” asked Izumi.

“Yea, we did when you went to check on Kuro,” answered Ed, scratching his head as though what he did was a simple act of kindness. “By the way, why did Kuro scream?”

“It’s late you two,” stated Izumi. “We have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

Ed sighed and led Al to their room.

Kuro woke late the next morning. She yawned and stretched while whipping the sleep from her eyes. She looked outside her window. A girl with long, blond hair walked up to the front door. ‘Probably a customer here to buy some meat,’ she thought lazily. She dressed in a simple tan shorts and black tank top. Running out the back door, she found Ed and Al fist fighting and Izumi watching in a corner with interest. Kuro avoided the fight and walked up to the older woman. “What are they doing? And why are you just watching?” she asked the two most pressing questions.

“I am seeing how well they fight without the use of alchemy,” answered Izumi simply. “You and I will fight when they’re done.”

Sig walked out with the same girl Kuro saw earlier behind him. “Ed! Al!” the girl cried out.

The brothers’ stopped their fight and stared at her. “Winry!” Al cried.

“What are you doing here?” asked Ed.

“I should be asking you the same thing,” said Winry.

“We’re training,” answered Ed.

“Aren’t you still looking for the Philosopher’s Stone?” asked Winry.

Authoress Note: I’m making it so that it takes them longer than in the series to get the stone. Just to make it more interesting. They already know about Dante too. It just works into the plot I have set up for this.

“Sensei wanted us to retrain,” said Al.

“Who’s that?” asked Kuro, walking up to them.

“Kuro, this is our friend Winry,” said Ed. “She’s the one who made my auto mail.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” said Kuro through gritted teeth.

“As it is you,” replied Winry.

Izumi smiled behind the group of teens. “I think I’ll let you catch up with her, Ed, Al,” she said. “I need to train Kuro anyways.”

“Be careful,” said Ed. “And don’t hurt Kuro too bad.”

Kuro glared at him dangerously, but said nothing. Instead, she turned to Izumi as they were left alone.

“I would like to see first hand what you know about fighting hand to hand without the use of alchemy,” said Izumi. “Come at me with everything you’ve got.”

Kuro smiled, undoubtedly confident in her own abilities. She almost laughed at Izumi’s stupidity. Without a second’s hesitation, she launched herself at the woman and punched at every potential (Authoress Note: I’m going to hurt my FFA coach for that phrase) opening to find Izumi lazily blocking all her assaults.

“Do you only know how to fight with your fists?” asked Izumi. “That will do nothing against the Homunculi!” She kicked out, tripping Kuro.

Kuro fell back, landing on the ground. “That was unfair!” she cried. “I didn’t even get as much as a warning!”

“When you’re fighting a Homunculus you won’t get any warning of their next move,” said Izumi, extending a hand to help Kuro up. Kuro took it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. “As for fairness,” Izumi continued. “Life is unfair.”

They continued the same routine for thirty minutes, always Kuro getting beat in one way or another and landing many bruises. Having a broken arm didn’t help her much either, but she didn’t allow that to get in her way. “That’s enough for one day,” said Izumi finally. She helped Kuro up for the fortieth time. “It’s clear that you’re broken arm is straining you too much. You made good progress for your first day. Now, wait here while I go get the bandages.”