A/N: This story is a collaboration effort by my ranger brother emjaycrawford and myself based on some short r/p stints we have done. For now I, being KeakaChan or singingalchemist whichever you prefer, will do the writing. Hopefully brother will write a chapter as well. Enjoy!

The summer air hung thickly around the small southern village of Tendren making it unbearable. The unrelenting sun beat down upon the scorched earth drying up whatever crops had managed to grow making the adults complain with worry about the autumn reaping. They wiped sweat from their brows as they toiled their fields occasionally glancing up at the clear blue sky hoping to see maybe one darkened cloud that may indicate rain and sighing in dismay when their eyes were met with open sky, hunching back over in an attempt to save the small harvest. Even the livestock were quieter moving slower as well as the few birds that had stayed in the area setting an eerie silence through out. On occasion one would hear the sound of children laughing that came from down the dirt path leading to the river where they were permitted to play.

"Come on brother or else we're gonna be late!"

"Me! It's you're fault in the first place, I told you we shouldn't have stayed so long. Mom's gonna kill us."

"Nuh-uh! Not my fault Mirayasha."

"Is too!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh." The siblings quarreled with the girl in the lead ahead of her brother. Water from their recent swim dripped off identical brown hair falling quickly to the ground as they ran past trees and over their roots.

"Mirayasha-kun! You're too slow!" The girl yelled.

"Keaka-chan wait! Go slower, I'm barefoot!" Mirayasha yelled to his sister whom was ample distance away. So much so that she didn't hear his sudden yell as his ankle twisted at an unnatural angle causing him to lose his balance and topple off of the path down the small rock ledge hitting his head against it knocking him unconscious With a thud he landed impaling his arm with a fallen tree branch motionless.

"Brother!" Keaka called looking over her shoulder expecting to see her brother but finding only the empty path he should have been on. She swallowed hard willing her feet to move the way she had come.

"Brother? Mirayasha this isn't funny! Come on!" She called walking down the path scanning the area afraid her brother would jump out to scare her at any given moment. She clutched her hands together under her chin and whimpered fear over taking her.

"Mirayasha!" She called when a piece of blue caught her eye. She ran over to the cliffs edge and stared down at the lifeless body of her brother. Hot tears burned in her eyes as her body began to shake. Her hands covered her mouth as a blood curdling scream erupted from deep in her throat. A few of the adults toiling the fields came running at the sound of the scream unknowing what they were going to find. Keaka knelt on the ground with tears streaming down her face silent her lips moving slowly as she rocked gently back and forth.

"Oh god, how in the hell are we going to get to him?" One of the men asked.

"I'll go grab some rope I was using." Another yelled and was off in a flash.

"Is he breathing?" A third asked.

"Don't know." The first one said. A woman knelt down next to Keaka her own eyes brimming with tears.

"I'll go tell Yokira what's happened and get Keaka home." She said picking the small girl up. By the time they reached the young boy his face was pale and his arm was blue. The large tree branch skewered his forearm piercing through causing blood to ooze out from around it. Muffled responses were said that if by some miracle he lived his arm was a goner. Wrapped in a blanket the still unconscious Mirayasha arrived home where a few women patched his wounds as best they could.

"It probably won't be until tomorrow that the doc can reach us Yokira."

"Yes I am aware of that Kuraki, thank you." She replied staring at her son as he lay lifeless in his bed her daughter on the other side holding his hand gently.

"If you want some of us could stay." Kuraki offered. Yokira turned her head to him and offered a trembling smile.

"Thank you but no. I would like to be alone with my children." She stated turning her back to the man stroking her son's cheek gently. The door shut as the others left leaving the small family alone.

"Kasan, will brother die?" Keaka asked her voice thick with grief as tears fell down her face.

"I don't think so Keaka, you're brother is strong. He'll be just fine. All we can do know is wait." Her mother soothed.

"Is the doctor really going to cut of Mirayasha's arm?" She asked.

"I don't know." Yokira replied biting down softly on her lip as she stared at the mangled appendage.

"Kasan, if Mirayasha dies…"

"Keaka stop it this instant! He is not going to die! Do you understand me young lady?" She interrupted sharply staring at the young girl. Keaka froze unable to ever recall a time her mother had been so harsh with her. She nodded her head as her lips quivered setting of a new bout of sobbing. Yokira sighed heavily instantly feeling regret for snapping at her daughter.

"Come here honey. I'm so sorry." She said holding out her arms to her daughter. The young girl ran around the bed into her mothers arms burying her head against her soft torso. "It's late you should get some sleep."

"No I need to stay with brother. This is all my fault he's hurt." Keaka replied shaking her head.

"It was an accident Keaka, even if you had been by his side who's to say you could have prevented it or worse you both could have been injured." She said holding her daughter tightly.

"I'll never forgive myself as long as I live." The front door suddenly burst open as Kuraki ran to the small bedroom.

"Yokira, the doctor…" He said breathlessly. Keaka glanced up as the man stood well dressed placing his hat on the small white dresser they shared. He put his large black bag down as Yokira stood still holding Keaka tightly.

"Mrs. Hirotoma I presume." The man said friendly with a soft smile.

"Ms., actually." She corrected. The doctor nodded.

"I'll do what I can for you're boy." He said walking to stand next to the bed carefully unwrapping the bandages from his arm.

"Let's go wait in the other room Keaka." Yokira said casting one last glance at her son as she exited the room.

"Yokira, Keaka. The doctor is finished." Kuraki said shaking both awake gently. Yokira rubbed her eyes looking out the window shocked the sun was so high in the sky.

"What time is it?" Keaka asked sleepily yawning.

"Already almost noon . I didn't want to wake the two of you but Mirayasha is almost all fixed up." Kuraki stated. Keaka jumped off of the small sofa she had been laying on with her mother and ran to the bedroom she shared with her brother. She made to knock on the closed door when it opened the doctor emerging appearing tired but still with a smile for her.

"He's nearly good as new however…." Keaka ran into the room smiling happily but stopped dead in her tracks as she saw her brother. His head had a smaller bandage the stitches evident through the thin gauze but what made her heart stop was his arm. Thick bandages covered the stump that ended just above where his elbow should have began. The pure white slowly being tainted by red. She walked closer to the bed talking his hand in hers.

"Mirayasha. Brother wake up." She whispered softly to him. His eye lids fluttered letting out a groan as if he were being resurrected from the dead. He blinked a few times staring at the ceiling before glancing at his sister.

"Sister? Ah, my arm! It hurts sister!" He cried his eyes clenching shut as tears welled under the lids.

"It's gone Mirayasha. You're arm is gone, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." She cried but her pleas were lost in his anguish as he in turn cried out. "I swear to you brother I'll fix you, no matter what it takes I will."

Mirayasha healed quick enough physically but emotionally still lay broken.

"I can't do anything anymore! I hate this!" He yelled tossing his shoe across the room angrily. Keaka sighed picking up the sneaker and bringing it over to him.

"You could just ask you know…" She said putting it on his foot and tying it.

"I don't want help damn it! I want to be able to do it myself!" He shouted.

"Brother, shhhh…you know kasan doesn't permit swearing." Keaka replied. Mirayasha glanced over to his right where their mother's bedroom was.

"Is she still sick?" He asked concerned. Keaka nodded. Mirayasha sighed.

"She needs to hurry up and get better all ready." He said.

"It isn't her fault she got sick Mirayasha and she will get better in due time." Keaka said tossing her brother a glance. Mirayasha continued to stare at the closed bedroom door before directing his attention elsewhere in particular to the book that Keaka held in her hand.

"What's that?" He asked curiously. Keaka attempted to snatch it up quickly but even with only one hand her brother was still quicker than she was.

"Introduction to auto-mail mechanics? Whats auto-mail?" He asked looking up at her. She grabbed the book away from him and blushed slightly.

"Auto-mail is mechanical prosthetic limbs that people are fitted with once they lose their natural ones." She replied. "They can move just almost as good as flesh and bone because they attach directly to the nerves." Mirayasha took the book from her again opening it to the middle and reading.

"Hmmm, interesting to say the least." He said his eyes showing interest for the first time in months.

"Brother, I'm going to try and learn everything I can about this to fix you're arm." She said staring at him determination written clear on her face.

"Keaka-chan…." Mirayasha said stunned at the sudden aggression she was showing. She was the passive aggressive child while he was the determined one, to have the roles reversed was odd.

"Don't try and talk me out of it brother. I've made up my mind." She said looking at the book. "I'm going to become an auto-mechanic."

A year passed quickly and soon the summer sun beat down on the small village again. Mirayasha walked down the main path staring straight ahead of him. His eyes glazed over while his thoughts consumed him. His sister was constantly studying the art of auto-mail traveling to the next village to train as an apprentice under a skilled mechanic.

"Almost ready brother, pretty soon you'll have a brand new arm promise." She said every night she came home exhausted and dirty. Their mother rarely came out of her room. Her coughs could be heard outside the house day and night rapidly growing softer by the day at first alarming her children until it became habit for the two to simply exchange knowing glances to the other grimly. A few childhood friends had died similarly when they were younger, an illness that attacked the lungs causing the afflicted to cough blood. It wasn't uncommon in their small village for people to die from illness but did it have to be her? Mirayasha clenched his fist tightly as he walked feeling his anger build deep in his chest. Another thought took root in his mind one that had plagued him for some time but was pushed away vainly; where was their father or who rather was the question. Their mother never mentioned him, never said his name or who he was. None of the other's in the village knew for they had arrived shortly after Mirayasha was born and Keaka still practically an infant herself. They knew at least they had the same father but they never received a name or even how their parents had met angering him to no end.

'Soon it will be too late, then what will we do?' He wondered. A light flashing a few feet away from him caught his attention. He glanced intrigued and ran over.

"Whoa nice transmutation Sota." A boy commended. Sota beamed with pride.

"Hey guys what you doing?" Mirayasha called out as he neared. Both boys exchanged a glance that resembled pity.

"Uh well I found this book see about alchemy so I've been studying it and I made this." Sota said holding up the small figurine happily.

"That's awesome." Mirayasha said his eyes widening. "Hey lend me that book so I can learn it too!" The two boys again exchanged glances.

"Sorry Mirayasha but you need two hands to perform alchemy." Sota replied.

"Yeah sorry." The other said.

"Don't worry just lend it to me alright?" He replied happily. Sota shrugged digging the book out of his shorts pocket and handing it to him.

"Uh, good luck." He said as Mirayasha ran off prize in hand.

Three more years passed the siblings submersing themselves completely in their trades. Keaka began working on models at home and set up a make shift work shop in the basement taking old tools off of peoples hands that didn't have use for them anymore. Mirayasha found more texts on alchemy and was amazed at how difficult it seemed at first but the more he read the more it made sense. As each day passed that Keaka became a more skilled mechanic Mirayasha knew once he had his hand he would become a great alchemist perhaps the greatest their ever was.