Itsumoto Daisuke took a deep breath and inhaled the sweet earthly air. It was amazing how people could take breathing such fresh and clean air for granted. He could not tell you the last time that the air he breathed was not filled with sweat and blood and death. The last time that he had felt the wind blowing against him. That he had the sky over his head. He had the sun shining on him. Had the grass beneath his feet. A smile on his face.
He could not tell you the last time that he had felt so utterly free.
Daisuke sighed, but in was a happy sigh, one of complete contentedness. He had always preferred being on Earth than being in Seireitei, with the exception of when he was at home.
Home.....
It had been far too long.
His smile dropped and he sighed again. It was a good thing that they had allowed him to work while he was imprisoned, doing paperwork that no one had the time to do. If they hadn't paid him, he didn't know what would have happened to everyone. It was also a good thing that they had not gotten rid of him altogether. Had they killed or fired him, they wouldn't have give any compensation to his family. That was only given if a shinigami had died in battle.
He frowned. He still couldn't believe his family had forgiven him for everything.
The man sighed a third time.
“Hey, c'mon, don't be so depressing!” Daisuke jumped as Suki spoke right from his side. He hadn't even noticed her, but that wasn't unusual. He could never sense her even in his prime. “You told us you wanted to train, right? So then turn that frown upside down and let's do it!”
The shinigami smiled slightly. The girl was always so energetic. “Suki, I believe it will only be Hohenheim and myself who will be fighting.”
The pigtailed girl pouted, making her seem even more childish than before. “I know. It's so boring, though.” She whined, and then her cheeks puffed up comically, not unlike a hamster's. “You go off and then you don't even come visit for gosh knows how long, and then you suddenly appear and ask us to train with you again with no explanation whatsoever! And you didn't even bring me a present!” The lavender-haired girl stomped her foot for emphasis.
Now the shinigami chuckled, putting up his hair so it would not get in the way of the fight. Suki was just as he remembered her.
“You're lucky we owe you.” The bount muttered as she crossed her arms over her virtually non-existent chest. “You're such a meanie!”
“What!?! Are you harassing Suki-sama, Daisuke!?! Even after such a long period of absence, too! How could you!?!” A steel haired man with golden eyes walked towards him.
This time Daisuke jumped even higher. He must have been in worse condition than he thought.....
'Suki-sama' lowered her head. “I.....I was j-just tell-telling.....him how m-m-much I.....missed.....him. Then.....h-he j-just started.....t-t-to laugh.....a-at me.” the girl murmured, hiccuping and stuttering between some of the words. She looked up at Hohenheim and there were tears in her eyes. “Why.....did he d-do th-that, Heimi?”
Yes, she was just as he remembered her.
Apparently so was 'Heimi'. The large man fixed him a glare and settled himself into a battle stance. “Prepare yourself.” He lunged forward, ready to put a fist in the shinigami's face.
Daisuke was barely able to sidestep and push his opponent's arm to the side. He grimaced. Had he truly become so incredibly pathetic? He could help no one like this.
Hohenheim quickly turned his body around and Daisuke saw a symbol being formed on the doll's hand and crossed his arm over his chest.
The silver haired man put his hand to the ground and the symbol glowed. Almost instantly the earth in front of him rose up and rushed towards the tawny-haired man, sending him flying back and causing him to fall on his back.
He quickly got to feet and coughed as tried to get air back into his lungs. If Daisuke couldn't think of a distraction fast, he wouldn't last much longer.
The doll gave a small smirk as he charged forward again, one arm up and the intent to hit him again clear in his eyes. As he did, the shinigami he was going for held up his hands to form a triangle. “Bakudou #07, Sunasei (Sand Trap)!” Daisuke yelled.
The ground beneath Hohenheim's feet rapidly began to churn, and the earth and rock became sand from the intense rotation. The sand then rose up around the silver-haired doll, encasing him in a hardened globe. A look of surprise was seen before he was completely hidden from view.
The criminal did not let this small victory fool him. The man he trapped was strong enough to break out of the Sunasei with relative ease. Even the lack of air would not effect him, as the doll had no real need to breathe, and since sound could not travel through the sand, Daisuke could not tell when exactly he was going to escape.
This needed to be timed just right.
“Hadou #10, Taienchu (Imperial Flame Pillar).” he said, bringing his hands together as if in prayer upon doing so. Almost the instant he did, a great flame roared and rose high up into the air behind the sphere of sand. Daisuke furrowed his brow in concentration. If he could not keep up the Taienchu until the right moment, his plan would fail, and he did not have the strength to continue for much longer.
A crack suddenly appeared on the sand dome. 'Now!' Thought the criminal, and he let his arms drop.
The column of flame began to fall, racing toward the ground in a blur of hot colors. At the same time the Sunasei broke in two, and Hohenheim became visible for a moment. But the lack of oxygen where the sand sphere was caused the air to come rushing towards him, bringing the pillar of flame with it.
Hohenheim remained silent as the flames engulfed him, not being able to feel the pain. Soon there was nothing left of him but ashes.
Daisuke let himself relax a little. Had he gotten him?
“That was close, Daisuke.” A voice behind him murmured as a blade was held to his throat. “But it seems that we are finished.”
The man mentally cursed as he turned his head to see the doll. He could have sworn that he had destroyed his entire body. Voicing his thoughts, he said. “What did I miss? I could have sworn I had gotten all of you.”
Hohenheim gave a happy grin before removing the blade from Daisuke's jugular and starting to transmute it back into a bangle. “While you were recovering from the wave of earth, I detached my arm and had it crawl around behind you. It was only a matter of time before the rest of my body grew back.”
The criminal hit his hand to his forehead. How could he of missed that?
“Suki-sama told me to go easy on you, actually.” The patchwork man laughed. “But I ended up getting mad and being tougher than I meant to. You still ended up winning, though, considering I would have died had I been a normal person.”
Suki came up from behind Hohenheim, who picked her up and carried her piggyback. “We're both really glad you're back, Daisuke.” the girl giggled.
Daisuke joined their laughter. He had truly missed his friends.
Okay, finally done. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Suki and Hohenheim probably won't show up much outside of training, but I do have a template for them if you want me to put it up anyway. It's up to you. Also, Leon, I'll wait until the battle between Daisuke and Isao is over to add in any stats so that it won't upset the battle.
Subject: Training-Itsumoto Daisuke 
