Hitomi hummed a bit of a tune as she searched for the remainder of her Healing class notes. Her friend Aiko had a habit of using air alchemy to blow her notes out of her reach.

Well, to be fair, this time it was because she had stolen his Alchemy text and well, he needed that for class.

The cold November wind brushed away her ornate pale blue hair and she wondered again if it might snow today. It was cold, although being a koorime (ice demon), this was the sort of weather that felt best to her.

Hitomi Hikari was in appearance, almost otherworldly with good reason. She stood at a full height of four feet ten inches, five inches shorter than her older brother. She was pale, with blue hair and crimson eyes.

Hitomi had the ability to feel others emotions and heal them, and the power to make it cold. She could also make portals between dimensions and make Hiruseki stones.

She seemed a bit rebellious, leaving campus often by herself. Sometimes she caught glimpses of things to come and it was at these times that she wandered off, in search of something unfamiliar.

She was interrupted in her quest for homework by something hard hitting her on the head.

"Well," she said softly. "That certainly isn't snow."

She looked down and saw a small silver pocketwatch.

"Mm?" she hummed the question as she picked it up, turning it over in her hands and examining it. The president's crest…a State Alchemist is wandering around?

Maybe they left some kind of name on the inside, she thought, but it seemed to be sealed using alchemy.

"Huh? Better take it to Aiko and Akemi," Hitomi said, talking to herself again.

She wandered back into the school gate, scanning her ID to get in.

"Hitomi! Where did you go?" Satoshi, her adopted brother, pelted her with questions. "You didn't go out there alone again, did you?"

"There are new arrivals," Hitomi said in the same soft voice, holding out the watch.

Satoshi traced the markings with his finger. "It could be a fake. Or it could really be another alchemist. Either way someone is baiting us."

"Three guesses who," she said, anger casting an edge to her hushed tone.

"Talking about me?" Sakura asked. She smirked at the two, her bright red hair sparkling in the halflight. "I brought some people to meet you. Ed, Al, this is Hitomi Hikari. You can just call her Hikari-imoto."

It was a mocking way of telling Hitomi she believed her to be inferior to Satoshi. She wanted to stir up animosity between the two of them. Her crimson eyes flashed with pure spite. Figured that no one knew exactly what she was.

Hitomi looked pointedly at the Elric brothers. "The protagonists? You know very well what that will do!"

She lunged forward, but Satoshi caught her arms and held her back.

"And you brought their bodies back too," Hitomi spat. "What, so they'll be indebted to you? You make me sick!"

"Do I?" Sakura smiled, releasing the wrists of the two boys. She stepped forward. "If I had a brother, he would love me. Face it. You wish you could control people like this. Hiei-sama would acknowledge you. Your father wouldn't raise a hand against you. But as it is—"

She threw them forward.

Hitomi caught them, her face frozen in a glare that was masking the desire to cry.

"As it is…no one will ever love you," Sakura said, smiling. "You fool."

She turned and walked away.

Hitomi's knees then gave way and she collapsed.

"Hey! Oi! Blue-haired girl!" an annoying voice was close to Hitomi's ear.

She opened her eyes to be hold the visage of Edward Elric. A blush colored her cheeks. "Hitomi…Hitomi's my name, Edo-kun."

I reached into my pocket and pressed the watch into his hands. "I-I didn't hurt it. Or open it. Don't be mad, okay?"

Ed looked startled, but then he smiled. "Come on. Satoshi said that there was food inside."

He took her hand and helped her up. "Al already went in. He's probably starving."

Ed put a hand behind his head in embarrassment. "Guess that's my fault."

Hitomi elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't be like that. All that matters is that in her twisted desire to piss me off, Sakura managed to spare you two a moment or two of happiness. You'll like it here. Hughes and Mustang are actually professors."

Ed turned as they entered the Dining Area. "They are?"

Hitomi nodded. "You'll meet a lot of people you know tomorrow. For now though, let's meet some you don't."

That's when she noticed a mark on his arm. She grabbed him and yanked him into the hallway. She pinned him to the wall, being incredibly strong for her willowy frame.

"Sakura-sama marked you didn't she?" She said viciously. "That bitch! I swear I'm gonna kill her!"

Ed jerked free. "I don't need a girl fighting my battles for me."

He definitely didn't expect what happened next. A small fist collided with his jaw, causing him to double backwards and stumble.

"What the hell? Who taught you to hit like that?" Ed exclaimed.

"Izumi Curtis," she responded. "Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't fight. And I don't want you protecting me. Sakura's just my problem. I'm not fighting her because she hurt you. She hurt you cuz I'm fighting her."

"T-Teacher?" Ed yelled in surprise. "S-She's—"

"Shh!" Hitomi said, grabbing his arm and pulling the sleeve up to reveal a hand shaped burn mark. "Nn…this is bad—"

Ed grabbed her wrist in one swift motion. "Don't touch it."

He had a fire in his eyes, and it seemed that this look, this glare, was directed at Hitomi's crimson calming gaze.

"What do you intend to do?" she asked him serenely, with a bit of an edge to her voice. "Look at me again. Are you going to make more scars, human?"

He looked at me, and I peeled back the layer of shielding that hid my scars.

He let go of my hand, shuddering.

"Try to be gentle with them…all they want is more violence…" she muttered, pulling back his sleeve again. "Stay calm."

"But my brother, he was hit too!"

"Al is fine," Hitomi said soothingly, pouring Reiki into the wounded area. "If he was able to return to the company of others, he is alright. But you…you've been holding it in, but you were agonizing. There. All better."

"Who are you anyway? Where are we?" Ed asked.

Hitomi smiled. "This is a sanctuary for those of us who are…compromised. We are all from separate worlds. I told you earlier, my name is Hitomi Hikari. Please don't ever call me 'imoto.'"

"I'm Edward," he said. "And my younger brother Alphonse is in the Dining Area."

"Yes," she said. "You're kinda famous here. The Wind and Water Alchemists go here. The Flame Alchemist is a TA, and I believe there are a few more non state alchemists around. Have you seen Nii-san anywhere? He's the one with blue hair."

"I didn't—"

"So you're the Fullmetal Alchemist?" Satoshi stepped into view. "You mean she really threw us in danger of another paradox? Does she even know what she's dealing with?"

"No, of course not," Hitomi said flippantly. "She's letting her powers go to her head."

"Why don't they let you handle it?" he asked.

"The board doesn't want a demon's help, Sato-kun," she said quietly, a note of bitterness in her voice.

"Did you just say 'demon'?" Ed asked me. "What exactly are you?"

"Half koorime, half human," I said.

The alchemist looked at me, wide-eyed, then laughed.

"Look at your arm Edward," I said viciously. "No human can heal you that way. And look above you."

He looked up only to be hit in the face with a blizzard. "AAAH!" He shivered. "You didn't have to do that!"

"I'm an ice maiden, strictly speaking," I said. "Come on in, it's fourthmeal, and I'll get you some pumpkin pie and hot cocoa. And I bet everyone is anxious to meet you."

Ed was shivering, but he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. To be honest, he didn't know if they could trust this Hitomi girl or her brother Satoshi.

They looked like aliens to him, with their blue hair. She might be a demon like she said…but was her brother? They didn't look alike, except for the hair color. He had blue eyes.

"Brother?" Al slid a piece of pumpkin pie to him and a steaming cup of cocoa. "Stop being so suspicious. We're safe here, can't you feel it?"

Ed sighed. "Al…we were already hurt once."

"Hello new arrivals! I'm Mizuki Shiunzuki," a halfway normal looking girl said. She had long brown hair and brown eyes. "You two are from the same time period as me, so I can help you get used to the technology around campus."

Hitomi appeared around the corner. "You guys still hungry? I brought Al some chicken from dinner. Ed did you want more?"

Ed stuck his fork in the pie and ate some of it.

"Edo-kun...I am sorry about her," Hitomi said. "I wish…I should have foreseen it; she's been acting bored for days."

She was looking down and her blue hair was covering her face. The ornate arrangement in her hair was askew from running around in the wind. Ed was shocked to find that she was so upset.

"H-Hey…" he put a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. Sure it was scary…but you made it stop."

She looked up, smiling a bit. Her smile made her kind of cute…for a demon.

"There you are," a cheerful redhead said. She wasn't anywhere near as scary as Sakura, in fact, her hair was short and nearly pink. "The new arrivals and my wayward best friend. Hi guys, I'm Reiko Minamino. This is my brother, Kurama."

"Let me guess," Ed replied, fork halfway in his mouth. "You guys are demons too."

"Well sort of," Kurama said, trying not to laugh at the annoyed alchemist.

"They are both kitsune," Hitomi said. "Fox demons. Reiko's my best friend. Ane-san, could you tell me next time that bitch tries something like this?"

"Maybe you should have foreseen it," another strange-looking boy said, glaring at her from across the table.

Whoa! Ed thought. Those two look they're trying to kill each other on looks alone!

The boy was barely taller than Hitomi, clad in black and with black pointy hair.

"Hiei-sama…I don't know how to get premonitions like that," Hitomi said.

"Hn…you should stop taking on new projects," Hiei said. "You need to worry more for yourself and stop getting on Sakura's bad side. It's foolish."

"Funny, I didn't know she had a good side," a regular looking boy said. He was the same height as Kurama, while shorter than Reiko. "Hiei, lighten up. Hitomi's not an idiot as far as I can figure, so give her a break."

Reiko laughed. "You tell 'em, Yusuke!"

Hitomi stood. "Ed, Al, I'll go get someone who's in your dorm."

She turned and yelled. "Oi Haru!"

A boy with black and white hair came over. "What?"

"Take them to the Alchemy dorm please," Hitomi said. "Night boys."

Ed and Al then allowed themselves to be escorted out of the dining area.