Disclaimer: I only own the original characters mentioned in this chapter.
Author Note: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourite and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
"Hi Uzumaki, how are you? How have things been since our last session?"
Naruto kept her eyes focused on the deck of poker cards in her therapist hands. The whiskered teen lost count how many sessions they had so far but there was one thing that was consistent in their sessions then it was the poker cards. She knew that the woman allowed her to play the game of poker in order to make her feel relax in this small room.
Yuna stared at her with expecting eyes but did not ask or probe her into talking about the day. The woman simply shuffled the cards, tossing it between them until they had an even set of numbers. Her therapist picked up her set of cards while Naruto gathered her thoughts on what to tell the woman.
The blonde took a deep breath, picked up her cards and finally answered. "I think things are good."
"You don't seem certain," her therapist observed as she dropped her first card onto the table. Green eyes looked at her for the longest time and Naruto waited for the woman to finish her sentence. "Is there a reason for your uncertainty?"
Pressing her lips into a thin line, Naruto regarded the young woman right in front of her. A couple of sessions ago, she would probably lie about her uncertainty or the very least try not to be cooperative but she had to take things seriously. The 15-year-old girl knew how important it was for her to take things seriously for herself.
If she didn't take these sessions seriously then Naruto knew that the pain inside of her wouldn't go away.
"My guardian didn't tell me about my father and my biological grandmother until a few days ago," Naruto finally admitted. She kept her eyes focused on her cards and took in several deep breaths to reigned in her temper. "Then I found out that my friend is my cousin but instead of being allowed to process my emotions, my classmates overheard us. They said they overheard our conversation because they think my cousin was going to confess to me."
Her therapist blinked and blinked before staring at her with wide eyes. She did not say anything for a few minutes, only watching the card that Naruto put down one card on the pile.
Another two more minutes passed and still Yuna did not make any comment. Naruto didn't know how to feel about the silence between them but she did know that she couldn't stop herself from clenching the cards. Was the woman not going to make some observation? Why must there be silence? What was the point again about these session?
"That must have made you angry when you saw they were listening in on a very private conversation," Yuna dropped another card and looked at her with knowing eyes. "What did you do?"
Poking her tongue against her cheek, Naruto forced herself to recall her actions. She scolded them for being cruel to watch Bakugou getting rejected and she was able to stifle the anger inside of her before she could say anything cruel to them. The girl believed it had been a miracle for her to have such a good hold of her emotions when she wanted to panic and accuse Bakugou.
In a way her classmates stopped her from having a panic attack and allowed her to regain control her volatile emotions.
"I told my classmates that they were cruel to watch a rejection," Naruto twisted a strand of her blond hair against her finger and regarded her deck of cards. "I told them I like someone else."
Yuna nodded and regarded her with careful green eyes. Her expression was completely controlled which made it difficult for Naruto to figure out what her therapist had to say. Was she going to say that she was wrong to point out that fact? Was she also going to ask her about Jiraiya? Because Naruto wasn't ready to talk about it yet.
"You are right to say that it is cruel to watch someone get rejected," Yuna offered her a smile and locked eyes with her own blue eyes. The young woman tilted her head. "But do you mind telling me why did you tell them that you like someone? From what I have gathered throughout our sessions, you would never spill that kind of detail to anyone."
Naruto pushed her lower lip backwards and forwards as her mind raced to explain her action. The woman was right. It was not like her to make such a very public declaration of her feelings to people. That was something she would do in Konoha but not something she would do in Japan. She wouldn't have done it especially when her classmates decided to go behind her back to listen in on her conversation.
The only sound that could be heard in the room now was the sound of happy children laughing as they played in the park.
"My classmates knew I like someone else but I think they thought I will change my mind because Bakugou is different from my boyfriend," Naruto finally answered. Her blue eyes softened as Shouto's expression came to her mind. "My boyfriend was there too…and he knows my feelings towards him but he has doubts. I…I just wanted to make things clear to him without announcing to my noisy classmates that we are together."
Her therapist nodded and looked at her for the longest time. What was going to be the next question? Was she going to ask why not public announce her relationship with Shouto to them? She hoped not. With the way her classmates were, Naruto didn't want them to poke and probe into their relationship when it was just new.
"You did something out of place for you because you wanted to reassure your boyfriend of your feelings?" the woman commented with a little hum to her tune. Her green eyes did not look like she was judging her for not publicly announcing her relationship to her whole class, only looking curious to know why she did that for Shouto.
The blond-haired girl nodded. "My boyfriend has issues just like I do and well I thought what would I want if I was in his shoes. I also knew my classmates weren't going to leave me alone until I just tell them what is the reason."
Yuna nodded and made no comment over her acknowledgment that she did have issues. That made Naruto knit her eyebrows together as the young woman put down her cards and pulled out a clipboard. Was the woman pleased that she recognize the fact she did have issues? Not once in their session had Naruto been willing to admit that she had issues.
The whiskered teen frown deepened as she listened to the sound of the woman's scribbling down a few notes into her clipboard. Minutes passed before the woman put down her clipboard and looked at her with curious eyes. "But were you as calm as you were now? You did experience a huge piece of news that they had no business listening to."
"I kept my cool and didn't allow my anger to come out of my voice," Naruto admitted, darting her eyes down to her deck of cards. It was a good set of cards if you asked her, one that could easily help her win this game between them. Unfortunately for her, the woman would never ever give her any money or make any bets on who would win their games of poker.
Yuna licked her dried lips and looked down at her own deck of cards as Naruto put down another card. Her therapist leaned against her own chair, which squeaked at the sudden change of position. The young woman inhaled and exhaled before finally fixating her eyes back onto the jinchuuriki. "Why?"
That question confused Naruto, who blinked at the young woman. It was the first time in her life that someone had ever ask her about why she would try to control her temper. People always asked her on why she couldn't control her temper. Now her therapist wanted to know why she controlled her temper.
Did they really have to talk about why when it was obvious? But then again Naruto knew that she hadn't fully told the story to her therapist.
"Because I won't have anyone liking me if I threw a temper tantrum," Naruto licked her dried lips and took in a deep breath before releasing her breath. "Bakugou already screamed at them for listening in and I see no point of me screaming at them. I was also still a little bit shock and still processing over the fact that he was my cousin."
No noise came out from Yuna and the only thing Naruto could hear were now the giggles of the children coming out from the park. Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at the window. Children smiled and dashed through the playground, no doubt playing a game that was probably similar to ninja.
It was probably four minutes later when Yuna picked up her clipboard and began another round of questioning.
"Why does it matter for you to have people like you?"
Naruto blinked and swirled her head at her therapist, who looked at her with curious eyes. That question made the whiskered teen frowned as she tried to think of how to answer the question. It was rather obvious in her eyes but no one really asked her if it mattered to her that people liked her or rather…why she cared.
There were a lot of reason that came to her mind but only one reason seemed simple in Naruto's eyes. The blonde chose this reason because Naruto believed that it wouldn't give a lot of things a way to her.
"Well it is nicer to be like then for people to hate you."
It felt like the woman wouldn't know the exact depth of her life with that question and well Naruto was certain that she did not allow a single one of her feelings come out into her tone. It was cheerful. In the blonde's experience, no one really questioned people when they sounded cheerful but Yuna did not look like she believed her tone.
That frown told Naruto that the woman simply found something interesting in her tone.
"Have you always been doing things to make people like you?" Yuna looked curious as Naruto looked back down at the deck of cards in her hand. The whiskered teen kept quiet as the woman continued to inspect her. "Naruto, you don't have to answer me just yet but have you been doing things to make people like you even when you don't want to do it?"
The word no was on the tip of her tongue, ready to be hurled at the therapist but the whiskered teen swallowed it down. It would be a denial and Naruto knew that denying was not going to help her. She actually had to think back to her time in Konoha before finally giving the answer that she knew would help her.
So with a deep breath, she began to recall every action that she did in the name of acceptance. There was that time when she purposely scored low marks to get Ami off of her back but she continued on because some of the students started to accept her. She agreed to steal something of Sasuke because Naruto thought it would make some of the girls like her.
It had been wrong and she didn't want to do it…but one of the girls promised to hang out with her and Hinata if she did it.
"Yes," Naruto forced herself to relax her shoulders and looked down at her hands. "There were times when I forced myself to do something for another person because I wanted them to like me. There are a lot of times when I want to scream and curse like Bakugou but people will hate me if I show how I really feel or if I just say no. They will reject me."
It was probably the first time she openly acknowledge the fact that she did like to please people. Was it a bad thing? It was rather hard for her to tell when Yuna did not look like she was judging her for having these thoughts. It felt good if you asked her. People judged and judged to the point that it suffocated her.
Not once during these sessions has this woman ever judged or pushed her into talking about something that she was not ready to talk about.
"You seem very certain that people will reject you if you show them your real feelings," Yuna observed. The woman clicked her pen again and began to scribble down a few notes. It looked like gibberish from where the blonde sat. The characters looked so joined together that it made it difficult for her to read what the woman wrote.
Naruto only offered a small shrug at the woman and chose to look away from her therapist eyes. This was probably the longest that the two of them talked about a certain topic but the blonde still did not fully understand what the woman was trying to get at. No matter how many times she tried to figure out the point, the whiskered teen drew blanks.
No sound came out of the room except for the scribbles and Naruto blinked when the woman began to ask next question.
"Naruto, are you perhaps very sensitive to rejection?" Hesitance colored the woman's tone as her green eyes locked onto Naruto's own blue eyes. There was no judgment in her eyes, only plain curiosity at what would be her answer, and that made the whiskered teen knit her eyebrows together.
The blonde tried and tried to think of an answer but nothing really came to her mind. It was not like she did not want to answer the question but there was only one question that came to her mind. It would probably make her look dumb but the whiskered teen knew that she couldn't answer the question unless she asked it.
"What do you mean?"
Yuna did not smile at the question, only nodding her head as she put down the clipboard.
"Do you ever think that if someone, for example, doesn't reply to a text message that they don't want to be your friend?" Naruto knitted her eyebrows together and the green-eyed woman decided to further elaborate. "I mean do you always try to find proof of someone rejecting you?"
"No!"
Even as the loud denial escaped from her lips, Naruto realized how untrue the answer was. She did try to find proof that someone was going to reject her. Why wouldn't she? The very first rejection that came to her mind were her very first friends and the Matron. Her status as a jinchuuriki in Konoha meant that she had never been fully accepted by them. Her best friend rejected her when she told him to come back to Konoha.
Her eyes darted back to Yuna and Naruto found that the woman looked at her with a knowing look. It seemed throughout their whole sessions that the woman could see through her acts. That she could see through her denials.
Naruto sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Yes, you are right. I always try to find proof that someone is going to reject me so I can find reason to reject them before they can do it to me."
The young woman nodded and picked up her clipboard again. Naruto only watched as the green-eyed woman scribbled down a couple of notes before locking eyes on her. "Do you have any idea why?"
"Why do you look at me like that? You are a monster and monsters like you don't deserve to cry."
Gulping down the lump, Naruto nodded. "I do."
It always went back to that hateful old woman but the blonde wasn't ready to delve back into the sea of horrible memories.
She inherited her grandmother's eye colour.
That was the first observation Naruto made when she took a seat in the Bakugou household living room. The whiskered teen sat on the dark brown couch, blue eyes focused on the white-haired woman sitting across her. The old woman must have been a beautiful woman in her youth if you asked Naruto with how small and delicate her features were.
Her Aunt was just as pretty as her grandmother but the whiskered teen couldn't help and acknowledged the fact her classmate (no, he was her cousin now) got most of his features from the woman in front of her. The same woman who looked like she could pass for her early twenties. What did this woman use to look so young? Because Naruto couldn't find any hint of wrinkles on her.
No noise came out of the living room except for the news announcement from the television screen. Two announcers talked about the lack of evidence to find the men who kidnapped the children from a couple of months ago and Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line. No one was ever going to find out the truth of what Iwa nearly tried to do.
"You have my eye colour but you definitely inherited Souta's golden hair," her grandmother observed. Naruto blinked and jerked her head up at Narumi, who offered her a warm smile. "Everything else comes from your Mom."
What should she say to the woman? Because nothing really came to Naruto's mind as her eyes drank in the sight of this elderly woman. From the moment she could walk, all the blonde had ever wondered who did she took after. Kenji told her that she had her father's colors and her mother's facial features but Naruto never fully believed him.
She always thought he was trying to find some resemblance to her mother but her grandmother confirmed what Kenji and Akira had always told her.
"My mother cousin said something similar too," Naruto replied, rubbing the back of her neck. Her eyes flickered to her quiet Aunt, who kept looking at her like she wanted to squeeze the very life out of her, before returning back to Narumi. The 63-year-old woman hummed and smiled at the response.
The whiskered teen felt her cheeks burned up and forced herself to look away from her newly found grandmother. Her eyes quickly latched onto the photo of Bakugou with his parents. Even from a very young age, the boy already mastered his signature scowl and glare while his parents beamed for the camera. Looking at the photo, Naruto realized that Bakugou might look like his mother but he had his father's build.
That made her dart her eyes to her Aunt and her grandmother, who both seemed to have similar body shape as her. Well now that kind of confirmed Naruto's suspicion on which side of the family that she should be grateful towards.
"Are you very close to your mother's family?" Mitsuki asked, smoothing the wrinkles of her skirt. Her red eyes flashed with curiosity as they locked onto her but Naruto could hear a slight nervous tone to the woman's voice. Were they worried for some reason? Did they think badly of her mother's family? Well she could never be certain.
She fiddled with her hands and noticed how her grandmother kept looking at her with analyzing eyes. It was rather odd to be met with a pair of eyes so much like your own, looking at you like they wanted to inspect every single detail of you. But then again Naruto wanted to do the same thing with her own grandmother.
The whiskered teen mentally shook her head at her desire.
"We aren't that close," Naruto plastered on a smile and locked eyes with her Aunt before shifting her eyes to her grandmother. Narumi did not look fully convinced if that raised eyebrow coming from her told the whiskered teen anything, but the 15-year-old was grateful that the woman did not push her to talk. "My mother comes from a huge family."
That probably filled the awkward silence between them.
Narumi nodded and poured herself another cup of tea before darting her eyes to the photo on the bookshelf. Naruto twisted her head around and blinked at the realization that her grandmother had been staring at the photo of her father and Mitsuki. Was that the last photo they ever had together? She wanted to ask but it felt wrong for her to ask.
It did not feel like she had the right to question them if Naruto was being honest and there were a lot of questions running through her mind. How did her grandmother meet her grandfather? Did she have any idea on why her father go to Konoha? What was her favourite food? Those were just one of the million questions running through her mind.
"Have they been treating you well, Naruto?"
The question hung in the air as Narumi looked at her with concern and curious eyes. Naruto kept quiet, heart swelling with an emotion that the girl could not identify at that current moment. Why did the woman care so much despite meeting her for the first time now? She gulped down the lump inside of her throat and forced on a smile.
Crying in front of her was going to make her think that she was a crybaby.
"Yeah," the whiskered teen answered once she controlled the wave of emotions that wanted to come out. "They gave me a place to stay after I ran out on Jiraiya."
Narumi nodded and flickered her eyes out to the window. Naruto couldn't see anything out of the ordinary through the window unless you considered a woman jogging with her dog to be out of the ordinary. Maybe her grandmother was thinking of how nice the weather was. It was a sunny day after all with no cloud on sight or so she had seen before she entered the house.
It was only after five minutes, did her grandmother say something.
"I was worried when your guardian told me that you ran off," Narumi admitted.
The 15-year-old girl blinked and combed her fingers through her blond hair. Those blue eyes shone with so much sincerity that Naruto faltered. Her heart squeezed to the point that the girl feared it might actually explode, which was impossible since she was only sitting down. Maybe it was possible but Naruto figured she had to read it.
Her Aunt bobbed her head in agreement and Naruto felt her throat dried up.
"Why?" she croaked, clenching her jaws together. "Y-You don't know me."
The white-haired woman stared at her for the longest time, lips curled into a thin line and Naruto felt her heart sank at that expression. Maybe it would have been a better idea for her not to let the mask crack but the old woman just told her that she had been worried. A part of her wanted to question her and pretend but Yuna told her to try and think positively.
She should think that it means the woman accepted her despite the fact that she came out of nowhere.
"You are my granddaughter and a very pretty 15-year-old girl," explained her grandmother, who looked from her bright blond hair to her blue eyes. "If anything happened to you then I would whack and punch your guardian for being so irresponsible when it came to taking care of you."
A little laugh escaped from her lips as Naruto pictured the old woman trying to hit her mentor. It would be impossible for the civilian woman to hurt her mentor but the image of the woman doing it was enough to calm down her thundering heart. She blinked when Mitsuki let out a little chuckle and looked at her with sparkling eyes.
"I think you have your mother's smile but you definitely have Mom's sense of humor," Mitsuki observed, flickering her eyes to Narumi. "You find it funny whenever you hear someone getting beat up."
Her grandmother snorted. "It used to be more fun when I beat the living crap out of them; it teaches them a lesson not to underestimate me."
Mitsuki smiled and shook her head while Naruto stared wide-eyed at her smiling grandmother. This was the first time she heard an elderly woman being proud of being able to hit someone. Warmth tickled throughout her whole body as the whiskered teen realized that there could be a little bit of a similarity between them.
Maybe she took after her grandmother because she always felt the same kind of pride.
For the first time in her life, Naruto think that maybe just maybe that she found a family member who wouldn't judge her for not being so girly.
"I heard from Fuyumi that you might have a girlfriend, Shouto."
Shouto blinked as he placed a single autumn bellflower inside of his mother's vase. His mismatch eyes flickered to his smiling mother, who looked at him with curiosity if that tilted head was of any clue to him, and then to the open windows. The early evening sun rays shone through the curtains and the curtains fluttered as the wind danced through the windows.
His mother did not look away from him and Shouto took a seat on the single chair next to his mother's bed. Rei offered Shouto a yoghurt drink and the boy took the offered drink. He should tell his mother that he no longer liked these drinks but the boy couldn't bring himself to tell his mother the truth.
Instead, he chose to think of how to answer the question. Shouto would not lie to his mother but he did want to ask why his older sister made it her business to talk about his private life to their mother or even how she figured out about the change in his relationship status. Leaning against the chair, the boy exhaled and regarded his curious mother.
"I am dating someone but it is new," admitted Shouto. He ran his hand through his hair and wondered why sweat came out of his hands when he had done no strenuous activity for the day. Endeavour did not make any demands for him to do his training, leaving him enough time to bring his mother's favorite flower.
He wondered what was Naruto's favorite flowers were and whether or not she would like it if he brought her one.
"Is it Naruto?" Rei smiled and looked at him with sparkling eyes. It was a very different sight from the one that Shouto saw when he once entered this small room that was his mother's prison. The day he visited his mother, she looked at him with such regretful, sad eyes and now she looked at him with those happy eyes.
He inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm down his racing heart. Things were different between them now and talked whenever he had the free time to visit her. But it still startled him that his mother quickly figured out who the girl was. Throughout their visits, not once he admitted to his mother that he was starting to develop strong feelings towards Naruto.
It felt almost cruel to admit his feelings towards his mother when she couldn't meet Naruto just yet.
"How did you know I'm dating Naruto?" asked Shouto once he gathered the courage to look at his mother. The mismatch boy kept his expression blank and his tone in control even though it felt like his heart was now doing cartwheels at the knowledge that his mother knew his own relationship.
His mother smiled and looked at him with knowing but loving eyes. It should make his heart soar but all Shouto could recall was how those grey eyes looked at him like he was a monster as she poured hot, scotching water on his face. It was not her fault. The boy knew if Endeavour hadn't pushed his mother to her limits then the scar on his face would never existed.
The moment his mother snapped out of her spell, she immediately scooped him up and tried to put some ice on his burnt face in the hopes of easing his pain.
"She is the only girl that you talk about," his mother explained softly. She held her hand out, ready to stroke him but Shouto quickly pulled his hand back. It felt too soon for him to have her loving touch again, not when he occasionally still freeze a person if they touch him. So far the only exception to the rule was Naruto and even then it was a new development for him.
He didn't want to see if he would freeze his mother.
Rei slumped her shoulders but made no comment over the fact that he pulled his hand away from her. Only a sigh escaped from her lips and his mother slumped her shoulders, looking almost dejected by the gesture. Shouto felt his stomach twist with guilt even though he knew it was safer for the both of them if he didn't let her touch him.
"I really like her," said Shouto, allowing a small bit of vulnerability to color his tone. He flickered his eyes to the white vase that contained five stems of autumn bellflower. All of them looked fresh but the mismatch-haired boy could not figure out who had given two of those stems. His brother and sister were obvious but the other two were a mystery to him.
If he did not know that his father was incapable of feeling anything to another person, he would have believed that one of those flowers came from Endeavour.
"From what I remember from television, your girlfriend looks like a very pretty girl," Rei commented.
Shouto kept quiet. He did not know what to say since all that flowery stuff didn't really suit him but his mother was right to say that Naruto was very pretty. That was a fact but his girlfriend was more than a pretty face. She was passionate when she wanted to be, understanding even though she seemed to believe that she didn't have that quality, and most of all Naruto was accepting towards people.
He wanted to say all of those things but the words seemed to have decided that it would rather be stuck in his throat then to be spilled in the open air.
"She is more then just a pretty face," he finally spilled.
Rei smiled. "I can also tell that she is quite the character from that very public apology that she made."
His lips twitched at the reminder and the mismatch-haired boy looked out to the window. Most of the children clung to their mother's hands while a few other children dashed around the street, their cheers and giggles so loud that it could be heard from his mother's room. A few of the other patients were being wheeled around by the nurses. He wondered if Naruto had been like one of those children dashing around with their friend.
Shouto could see the girl behaving the same way as a child if she did have only a few friends growing up.
"Naruto will always go far for the people that she cares about," the mismatch-haired boy admitted. He tore his eyes away from the window and locked eyes with his mother. Grey eyes looked at him with knowing eyes and Shouto rubbed the back of his neck. "Naruto will either go big or go home when it comes to them. Most of the time she goes big."
Rei chuckled and looked at the flowers in the white vase. Her grey eyes looked almost faded and Shouto wondered what was going through his mother's head. At that moment the clock struck six, reminding the boy that he only had a few more minutes before he had to go back to his house. He dropped his shoulders at the thought.
"She sounds like someone I know," his mother commented lightly with a nostalgic smile.
Shouto blinked and wondered whether he should question her about her past, but the thought made his palms sweat and his chest tightened with fear. There was nothing for him to fear but something told him that he was not ready to know what his mother had to say. All he could do was stare at his mother, who had the evening sunlight framing her like a picture.
It felt like God mocked him with that image because Shouto could never take his mother away from her prison.
There was only one unfamiliar face in tonight's meeting.
That was the very first thing Dabi noticed as he took the seat furthest away from the group of Villains. Toga sat near Shigaraki, twirling her knife without a care in the world as her feet dangled on the stool. Isamu sat on Shigaraki's left, an odd choice since the scarred man knew that his roommate preferred not to be near the childish man. Twice sat closer to the unfamiliar face, bouncing in his seat as he talked to Magne.
Kurogiri was of course standing behind the bar, talking to the man in the cloak and Dabi frowned. It was rather difficult for the male to tell but he guessed that the unfamiliar man would be around his height. He did not look like much if those glasses were anything to go by or those baggy clothes but Dabi felt a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.
That polite smile playing on the man's lips felt like a façade and Dabi knew all too well from his past of what it meant to build a façade.
"So you are the associate of Sensei who wishes to join in on the fun," Shigaraki commented, putting down his glass on the table. The chatter in the bar died down as everyone shifted their attention on the man who finally decided to come to their meeting. His red eyes inspected the man and he scoffed. "You don't look like much for an associate of Sensei."
The ash-grey haired man did not flinch or looked even bother by Shigaraki's irriation, only offering a polite smile. "I promise you that I'm stronger then I look, Shigaraki-kun but I'm not here to join in with your Vanguard. Orochimaru-sama wants you to bring in that student and in exchange for your hard work I will offer treatment."
Shigaraki twisted his lips into a scowl and Dabi knew that in any moment that the man was going to throw a temper tantrum. He must not be the only one because Kurogiri leaned forward and whispered something to the light-blue haired man's ear, causing him to stop the tremors. That was good because he was going to walk away if the man acted like a child again.
Shaking his head, Dabi shifted his attention to the grey-haired man. That polite smile hadn't faded away one bit but there was a gleam in his eyes that made the scarred young man paused. He knew it was a façade but why was the bastard acting like he was some polite, forgiving little shit? The black-haired man twisted his lips into a scowl.
Twice exchanged glances with Magne and Toga while Isamu eyed the grey-haired man with a weariness that made Dabi blink.
"I don't like him," Toga declared, eyeing the associate with a dislike that almost rivalled the dislike that Dabi felt towards Endeavour. It was understandable why he did not like the man sitting on the stool but he could only wonder what the man had done to earn the girl's dislike. Twice and Magne made no comment while Kabuto did not make any indication that he was affected by the loud declaration.
Isamu only looked at Toga like she was a smart girl for not liking the associate and Dabi exhaled.
"I don't understand why you won't let them kill all of the students that I don't want," Shigaraki grumbled, scratching the back of his neck. The grey-haired man only smiled apologetically and the red-eyed man scowled even more. "And you came waltzing in here without giving us your name. I don't like impolite assholes."
Dabi stretched his arms and legs, releasing a small yawn and rolled his eyes while Isamu looked at their Boss with unimpressed eyes. He didn't know about his roommate but it sounded like irony that the most immature person in the room had made this comment. Bastard used just as many swear words as that kid who got second place in the Yuuei Sports Festival.
"My name is Yakushi Kabuto but you may call me Kabuto, Shigaraki-kun," Kabuto offered an apologetic smile and did a small bow in his seats. "But this student is quite special to Orochimaru-sama. While you may be interested in the boy who can create explosives with his sweat, Orochimaru-sama is interested with the Quirk that could compliment quite nicely with the Quirk that he plans to take in the future."
Dabi felt the blood inside of him turned cold as Kabuto smiled even wider at them. He clenched and unclenched his hands as the list of names came to his mind. Maybe it was just his imagination but that tone implied their plans was going to be as sick as what Endeavour had done to his wife. The man dismissed the idea.
"So Orochimaru hasn't changed his ways even after the Third Hokage chased him out for human experimentation," Isamu commented, looking at the grey-haired man with distaste. The whole atmosphere in the room became cold at those words as everyone processed what the young man had just commented. "But why this student? Wouldn't the daughter of the Yellow Flash be of more interest to him?"
Dabi knew that despite the calm tone coming out of his roommate's mouth that the man was just looking for an opportunity to get into a fight. He could see it from the way his roommate's hand crept down to his socks, where the scarred man suspected that he kept his kunai. The black-haired man sighed and looked at the drinks on the display with longing.
If he was going to witness a fight between his roommate and the associate then he wanted to be drunk.
"You are so eager to fight, Isamu-kun," Kabuto shrugged and picked up the offered glass of drink that Kurogiri had made for him. A smile played on his lips as his black eyes gleamed with a calculated look. "That eagerness is going to get you killed one day."
Isamu narrowed his eyes. "Are you threatening me?"
"I'm giving you advice from one child soldier to another," the man commented with a cheerful tone but Dabi could hear the mocking undertone in his voice. His roommate must have heard it too or else he wouldn't clenched his hands into a fist. "But to answer your question, taking that girl will ruin all the work that Orochimaru had done on his apprentice."
The brown-haired man thinned his lips but seemed to have accepted the answer, not looking one bit curious to know what the man meant. The same could not be said for Shigaraki who eyed the grey-haired man with curiosity shining through his red eyes. The young man opened his mouth to say something, only for Kurogiri to shoot a warning look at the man.
Dabi eyed Kabuto and asked the question that he knew would probably be on everyone's mind. "Why aren't you the one capturing your intended target?"
Black eyes gleamed with amusement and looked at Dabi like he knew him. The idea was ridiculous if you asked him but fear crept up in his stomach as those black eyes looked at him with unfaltering confidence. Kabuto knew his real identity. There was no two ways about it because why would he look at him like that?
He exhaled and schooled his expression into a look of indifference.
"Well Sasuke-kun requested I keep him updated on his teammates and Naruto-chan is his favorite teammate," Kabuto smiled and looked at him like he pitied him. That only made Dabi clenched his jaws together as black eyes gleamed with interest. "I'm sure Sasuke won't be happy with me if I fight his first love but maybe her boyfriend might be a different story. I mean he might just try to kill Endeavour's son for making a move on her."
It sounded like a threat to his ears and Dabi felt his whole body turned icy cold at what the man implied. If all of them failed to do their job properly then his little brother might end up having someone who wanted to murder him. He clenched his jaws together as everyone darted their eyes between them, looking as if they were trying to make sense of the whole thing.
He only kept quiet and glared at the man who threatened his youngest brother.
The only person who could threaten Shouto was Dabi and no one else.
Author Note: So do tell me of your thoughts on this chapter and I do hope that everyone is keeping safe during these troubling times. Can anyone figure out which one of the students that Orochimaru might want?