She remembered the first time she ever saw him, a small, skinny, dark haired boy with determination and arrogance on his face as he showed up at her father's house and demanded to be made an apprentice. Roy had never had any formal training and when he first arrived Riza bested him at school, martial arts, everything except the one thing that mattered most to her father.

She was an only child and her mother had died when she was so small that she barely remembered her. Her father trained her in martial arts, but to his disappointment she never showed any talent for alchemy. Roy soon proved himself a natural, learning quickly and eagerly, and her father treated him like the son he'd never had.

From the very first, Riza had a crush on Roy. She was ten years old and he was thirteen, but they were about the same height, and Riza had the advantage of prior training. They became playmates and sparring partners, and it would be a year before Roy was able to beat her, and several more before he looked at her the same way she looked at him.

One day when she was twelve, they were fighting in the yard and he knocked her feet out from under her and she fell hard on the ground. She lay dazed and he stood above her laughing. "Shut up and help me up, asshole," she grumbled. He reached down a hand and pulled her up. She looked up at him glaring. When had he gotten so tall? She couldn't remember.

"Again," she said, and they returned to combat stances. After several more rounds they were exhausted and she was ahead, so she was about to suggest they call it a day when a girl's voice rang across the yard. "Roy!" They both turned to see a girl from the village leaning over the fence that surrounded the yard, smiling and waving.

"I'll be right there, Emma," Roy said grinning at her. "Just give me minute to get cleaned up." Roy wiped the sweat off his face with his arm and disappeared inside. The girl turned to Riza.

"Well if it isn't the little tomboy. I didn't know you helped Roy train." Riza folded her arms and glared at the girl, longing to throw mud in her pretty face. Roy had started attracting the attention of all the girls at school and in the village, and every time one showed up it felt like a punch in Riza's gut. How could she compete with these older girls, with their long flowing hair and big bouncy bosoms? She was just a kid, skinny and awkward, and she kept her blond hair cropped shorter than Roy's. Riza stalked off without replying, to go sulk in her favorite tree. She tugged at her short hair, and resolved to let it grow out. She had to show Roy that she wasn't just a kid, or he'd always treat her like a little sister.

Two years later her hair fell to her shoulders, but Roy seemed no closer to noticing her. At least he seemed to have slowed down his parade of girls, if only because he'd already dated every pretty girl in the village by this point. It had been months since she'd seen a girl around the place. She winced as she remembered the time she'd been coming in from a walk and caught Roy and a girl up against the wall behind the stable. She frowned at her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Her body had started to develop, but really it had only made her more awkward. She dressed in her usual outfit of loose fitting pants and a tank top and tied her hair back. Giving her reflection a final scowl, she left her room and went downstairs for breakfast. Roy was already there, leaning back casually in his chair with his messy hair in his eyes. She punched his shoulder as she walked by, "Don't fall asleep in your chair dummy." He grumbled and didn't look up at her.

That afternoon when she got home from school, she could hear the electric crackle of alchemy coming from the yard, where her father and Roy were training. The sight no longer held any novelty for her, but she wanted to spar with Roy, so she headed over. Her father was yelling rhetoric at Roy as he hurled wooden staves at him, and Roy was drawing and transmuting as fast as he could in response. He was seventeen now, tall and handsome and well built, but he still couldn't grow more than a little bit of facial hair on his chin and neck. She watched him until she got bored, and then she just stared into the distance and daydreamed.

"Hey, what's up Riza?" Roy asked, jolting her back to attention. He and her father were packing up for the day.

"I wondered if you wanted to spar a bit," she said, waving to her father as he went back inside.

"I don't know, I'm pretty tired."

"Pretty scared of losing, you mean," she taunted, grinning at him.

"Oh yeah? Tough talk for someone with dirt on her face," he said, playfully smudging mud on her forehead.

"Stop it," she growled, jerking away from him. He laughed at her, and reached down to scoop up more mud.

"No, no, no!" she yelled and ran out of the yard and into the field behind her house. He chased her and she looked behind her and giggled as she ran. They ran around the field until she finally let him catch her. He grabbed her around the waist and she squealed as he squished mud into her hair.

"Let me go," she giggled, not making a serious attempt to escape.

He smiled at her and suddenly bent down and kissed her quickly on the lips. She looked at him shocked and he grinned widely then reddened.

"Why did you do that?" she yelled twisting away from him, confused and blushing furiously. "Are you making fun of me? You're such a jerk!" Not giving him time to reply, she stepped forward and kneed him hard in the stomach, then turned and ran away, nearly in tears.

"Ow! What the fuck Riza?" he yelled after her.

Riza climbed into her favorite tree in the woods behind her house. She sat on a large low branch with her back against the trunk and hugged her knees, breathing hard and trying to calm herself down. She rubbed her face and hair furiously trying to get rid of the mud. Roy soon appeared and called up to her.

"Riza, are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I won't do it again." he said, looking up at her with concern, but still clutching his stomach.

"You can't just do things like that, Roy. You can't make fun of me all the time. I'm not some dumb kid!" she yelled down at him.

"I know you're not a kid, Riza, but you're kind of acting like one right now. I wasn't making fun of you. I kissed you because I like you."

She glared at him suspiciously, but her heart swelled in spite of herself. "Roy, if you're making fun of me, I swear to God…"

"I'm not I promise!" he cut her off. "I've wanted to kiss you for a while, but well, you're my teacher's daughter and it took me a while to work up the nerve." He looked down, embarrassed.

She laughed dryly at this. "Roy, I am literally the last girl in this town you looked at."

"I know," he said, leaning an arm against the tree trunk and looking up at her again, "but it's not like that, I promise. You're different. I really do like you." She didn't respond but looked down at his handsome face with her heart pounding in her chest.

"Can I come up?" he asked after a minute.

"Okay," she relented. He climbed up the tree and perched beside her.

"Hi."

"Hi." She didn't meet his gaze.

"So…" he began.

"Yeah," she said nervously. He put one hand on her cheek and she blushed and closed her eyes. He kissed her awkwardly, then dropped his hand. She opened her eyes and smiled at him and he blushed and smiled back, then reached for her again.

At first Riza was shy, and scared he would quickly discard her like he had every other girl he had dated. But she couldn't help being giddy with happiness that it was finally her that he was with. She surrendered to his advances, comforting herself with the thought that if he betrayed her, she could just kick the shit out of him in the yard.

By summer they became typical teenage lovers, sneaking away at every opportunity to make out in the woods behind the house. Roy lay on top of Riza kissing her and exploring her body. She eventually let him touch her breasts and butt through her clothes but if he tried to slip his hand under her shirt or down her pants she stopped him, blushing furiously. He kissed her neck and she wrapped her legs around his waist and held him tightly and bit his shoulder. He moaned and found her lips again and pressed himself against her. She could feel how hard he was through his pants but she was afraid to touch him there. They kissed desperately then broke apart, out of breath. He lay his head on her breast and she stroked his hair and sighed contentedly.

"My sweet beautiful boy."

"Don't call me that; it's emasculating."

"My big, strong, sexy man," she cooed.

"Now you just sound patronizing."

"Okay, Roy, I don't know what you want from me," she said laughing. He sat up growling and grabbed her, kissing her fiercely to stop her giggling.

They were wrapped up in each other all that summer, intoxicated by their feelings, all they could see was each other.

"I just want to go somewhere else. This country is so big and I've never been outside this little town. At least you've left home," said Riza. They were lying side by side holding hands as twilight stretched into night.

"Yeah, I know what you mean about wanting more. After my parents died my aunt took me in, and I could have just stayed there, sweeping her bar. But I learned about famous alchemists in school and I was intrigued. I read every book I could find about it. Then I heard about an alchemist in this town who could control fire and I had to go see it for myself. My aunt thought I was crazy. I had to run away to come here."

"But you turned out to be an alchemist after all, and she's proud of you now, right?" she smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

"Yeah," he smiled, "I'm pretty lucky."

"I know Father used to be pretty famous. He'd travel around and perform and stuff. He hasn't really since Mom died though. I can't remember the last time I saw him do any flame alchemy."

"Yeah I was pretty disappointed about that," he frowned. "I've been here for years and he still refuses to teach me the first thing about flame alchemy. He keeps saying I'm not ready." Roy sighed and made a fist with his other hand. "I'm so ready! He really doesn't have anything else to teach me anymore. I'd be going crazy if it wasn't for you."

Riza squeezed his hand again. "What do you want to do after he teaches it to you?"

"I don't know. Like you said there's a whole world out there. I want to see it all. I want to learn everything I can and be the best alchemist I can and make a difference."

"You want to be famous you mean," Riza giggled.

"Maybe. That wouldn't be terrible. But I want to do things. I can't stay here forever. There's a war going on in the East you know. And what if it spread to here?"

"Don't talk like that; that's terrible. You don't want to fight do you?"

"Maybe. If it came to it, to protecting the people I love, then yes absolutely."

Riza was quiet for a minute. She rolled towards him and hugged him and buried her face in his chest. He hugged her back and kissed her head. "It's getting late," he said, "We should go back soon."

"I don't want to," she said, her words slightly muffled. Roy sighed and held her, gazing up at the few stars he could see through the tree branches.