I'm back and oh my goodness, that last chapter must've been a favourite for you guys! So many new readers, hello! Thank you for following and favouriting Yayoi's Never Ending Stress Rebirth! :D

VI.

Shouto started his training at five. Yayoi started hers at three. Touya was still alive, and only now did Yayoi realise how gruelling the vague scenes of training in the manga really were.

Touya's hair may have been mostly red, a single white tuft on one side, but since the first time she saw him—that tuft was bigger, wasn't it? Surely it hadn't covered such a large area of hair, right? Even Natsuo had considered the hair more red than white. He'd compared Yayoi to it, for crying out loud! Was it stress? Was the training Enji put him through that bad? God. Yayoi's stomach sank when she watched Enji scold Touya. What if Shouto went through this? Was this why he had so much trouble growing up, not even trusting his siblings?

She cowered in the open as Enji's voice boomed through the training room. Ever since the coffee incident, everything had been tense. Yayoi wasn't allowed to even look at her siblings, save for Touya during training. Enji separated the twins, having the staff move Yayoi's bed into a new room closer to the training rooms. Everything was changing, just like she'd wanted, but she never anticipated how alone she would feel. Training with Touya that first time had been fine—Enji had told Touya to throw fire at Yayoi to determine her limits, and even when Touya himself was injured by his flames while Yayoi stared, pitying him, she felt like maybe she had someone.

Touya withdrew from her the moment Enji rushed to her side in favour of Touya's, praising Yayoi for resisting such high temperatures while her brother sat on the floor, burnt hand nursed against his chest. It was something she never really anticipated. Natsuo and Fuyumi had acted like Touya was a saint in the series, always blamed Enji for the horror that Touya had gone through and, presumably, died from. But when Yayoi looked past Enji to see if Touya was okay, it wasn't even a concern for Yayoi herself that she was met with. It was a darker look. More akin to jealousy. Jealousy that Yayoi had Enji's attention? That she could withstand Touya's own flames more than Touya himself could? Whatever it was he was jealous of, the green-eyed monster gazed right back at her as Enji picked her up and, without even a glance to Touya, told the boy to go get the medicine kit for his burns.

Yayoi never saw Touya again until the next time they had to train together. And she'd continue to never see him outside of training—not by Enji's command, but clearly out of his own free will.

She had a bad feeling about this.

"N—" Yayoi inched closer to Touya during breakfast one day, hoping to see if he was okay. It'd been a week or so since the first training incident, where Enji ignored his son in favour of the new daughter, and she'd only seen him again yesterday during training again. "Nii-Nii?"

Touya, expression blank, didn't even look up from his breakfast. Compared to his warm personality, how fiery he was when Yayoi had first met him, he was as cold as ice; he acted like Yayoi was a complete stranger now, like she was nothing, and it was obvious he'd heard her. She'd said his name loudly, had been greeted by the maid serving him breakfast, but Touya was the only one to not acknowledge her.

It was baffling. Her once doting brother was now a whole world away from her, and he was making sure of it. If this was the potential villain origin story she was witnessing before her, the fear she had for Shouto's safety only skyrocketed. If it had been Shouto getting the cold shoulder—if he was the one Touya was angry at for stealing Enji's attention—then the damage had already started before Shouto's Quirk even manifested. Yayoi stared up at him, eyes wide, and for a moment wondered how many blanks were being filled by Horikoshi's vision and how many were being filled by her intrusion.

When Touya finished breakfast, he pushed the bowl away and politely informed the maid he was done. Yayoi wasn't sure what to expect—but what she got was far from what she could imagine. Touya dropped out of his chair, right in front of Yayoi. When she didn't move, still hopeful that he was still the kind big brother she'd met as a baby, Touya's face scrunched up into an ugly expression of disgust and anger. Like Enji, his flames reflected his anger—and before Yayoi knew it, Touya was shoving her to the ground with a yell as he coated his hands in fire.

"What do you want?!" he screamed at her. The maid gasped, shocked by the outburst. Yayoi lost sight of her as she fell to the ground, smoke peeling from her dress as she cowered behind her own arms. This wasn't how Touya was supposed to be, right? Natsuo and Fuyumi and even Shouto, with his limited memories, thought of Touya as a kind child. As a good brother to all of them! This wasn't Touya!

"N—" Before she could get the words out of her mouth, Touya kicked out at her. There it was again, that green-eyed monster furious to see someone else getting Enji's attention. "Nii-Nii—"

His foot landed on the arms over her face. Now this took her back—back to the shitty parents in her last life, and back to the fear she used to feel whenever something bad happened to them. It was always the weakest in the house that was used to relieve stress, and from the looks of things, Touya was heading down that path at an early age. With parents like Enji and Rei, hands-off in their own ways, it was no wonder Touya was lashing out so openly now. And after just one session that took Enji's attention.

She didn't even have her Quirk yet. She was only three goddamn years old. And this brat decided she needed to be punished for a petty reason like this?

What if Shouto had gone through this too?

The thought struck her suddenly. Oh. Oh, that was something she never considered. Her brother, back in her old life, had repressed the years he spent alone with his parents. If Shouto had been treated like this at a young age by Touya, then perhaps this truly was Horikoshi's intention.

Anger gripped at her chest. She glared at Touya through the gaps in her protection. What if Touya had been just as much a danger to Shouto as Enjo had been?

Yayoi let out a scream and rolled onto her hands and knees before lunging at him, knocking Touya over and making him trip over his own feet. His head hit the edge of his chair, a loud thud sounding out, and when Yayoi stood up with her fists clenched by her sides, Touya was out cold. After a few brief seconds, she could see blood beginning to stain the white of his hair. He was silent, still as a statue on the ground, but he was breathing—albeit shallow and exhausted. His flames fizzled out shortly after, and Yayoi stared down at him.

She had to do something. She had to do something. If this thing was a threat to the brother she wanted to protect, she had to do something. Yayoi stood in place as she breathed deeply, almost hyperventilating, and her nails dug into the skin of her palms. She had to get rid of a threat—but what could a three-year-old do? What could she do to Touya, even if he was still only nine? Her hands were pudgy and weak and he'd clearly shown he was stronger than her while conscious.

Yayoi looked down at her hands. Like the day the coffee had been spilled on her, her skin was slowly blooming a bright, burning red.

Touya… had been born weak to flames, hadn't he? She couldn't burn him to death, she wasn't even sure if her Quirk would be fire-related beyond a resistance to it. But if she could punish him, warn him to stay away, maybe…

The doors to the kitchen burst open. A cry sounded from behind her. Rei rushed into the room and called out to Touya in a panic. Yayoi just stood there and stared. How could a mother defend her monster of a son so readily? She was supposed to love Shouto, to be remorseful for hurting him in his childhood. Did she even care? Was it all an act? Did any of them truly care?

Splotches of orange began to show up on her skin, glowing and warm. Yayoi glared at her mother, at Touya, as around her, the sound of snapping and crackling echoed through the room.

"Get Touya out!" Enji was storming into the room then. His beard was flaring in full force, and Rei all but obeyed him as she scooped Touya up into her arms and rushed out of the kitchen through the farthest door from Yayoi.

Of course the bastard would protect his son. Yayoi slowly lowered her hands, letting them drop at her sides, and looked over her shoulder at Enji. As she did so, she could see bits and pieces of the kitchen walls and cabinets smoking and glowing with embers of barely lit fires. Oh? Was he going to kill her too? Kill her like he'd eventually kill Touya? And to think her promising position as daddy's little girl had been so short-lived.

She gave him a sweet smile. Enji stormed over to her without hesitation.

"Is Papa going to burn me now?" she asked innocently. "Is Papa going to finish what Nii-Nii started?"

He froze. He hesitated. For the briefest of moments, he looked shocked. Horrified. Like he, rightfully, never expected in a million years that his toddler would say such a thing.

Well, if she was going to be taken care of, she may as well leave him with some guilt.

One of the cabinets finally burst into flames, the fire spreading quickly between the heated surfaces, and Yayoi just continued to smile innocently at him. Intimidation wouldn't work, the fool; she already lived a lifetime of fear before being tossed into his gene pool. Besides, she'd already resolved to put herself through hell and beyond for the sake of her little brother. What would dying and being reborn change for that?

Enji knelt down in front of her. The flames of his beard subsided, and his expression fell into that of… She wasn't sure what. But it wasn't the anger she expected, let alone the sadness she hoped for. It was almost remorse, almost regret, and Yayoi tensed up immediately as he reached for her. This wasn't going to be quick like the house fire. There would be nothing to crush her to death before the flames burned her alive. And even with her resolve to take all the pain, to protect her brother, to shield him, she still flinched like the child she was when Enji's hands landed on her shoulders.

The men of the Todoroki family were unpredictable. Kind and gentle Touya proved himself to be vindictive and jealous, a melting pot of hatred towards his baby siblings; and Enji, so hurtful and abusive, was so gentle as he pulled her into his chest and embraced her.

"Himari told us what happened," he said, voice uncharacteristically soft. "You're not in trouble Yayoi. We know Touya scared you and hurt you."

Yayoi stared into his shirt, speechless. This wasn't right. He should've been punishing her for lashing out, something to keep the pecking order in place. Sure, Touya had hurt her, but it was very obvious she'd done harm back to Touya. And it was head trauma, of all things—he had to be taken to a hospital immediately if they wanted to make sure he recovered okay. She'd done arguably worse damage when her fire immunity came into play.

"But—"

"He won't come near you ever again," Enji went on. "You or Shouto. He won't hurt you two ever again."

Yayoi went rigid. Both… of them? But she'd spent every moment with Shouto so far, when did Touya get the chance to—

Her heart sank. The time she spent alone in Enji's office without Shouto. That had to be when things went downhill.

She'd really been too late to protect Shouto when he still needed her most. All because this bastard wanted to monopolise Yayoi when she was still learning how to crawl and form words.

"You could've stopped him," she said after a time. Enji froze once more, taken aback by her words, but he eventually began to pet her hair.

"It won't happen again."

Liar.

She leaned against him despite herself. All this time he knew Touya was a danger, but he kept him around. What else had happened in the Todoroki family in the original timeline that she didn't know about? Was Fuyumi secretly working with the League? Did Natsuo ever do a single thing to help? How much worse did things get from here? And Shouto had to experience this all alone, isolated from anyone he could call a friend, for fifteen years? Yayoi hiccuped and weakly smacked a fist against Enji's chest. Why did he have to exist? Why did Enji have to exist? Why did Yayoi have to suffer through being a bystander when Enji saw fit?

She wanted to be big already. She wanted to be strong already. She wanted to take Shouto and run away and—and do something stupid like beg All Might to take them in or something!

The room slowly dipped in temperature as she began to cry. She was so used to being capable, to being the protector, but what was she now? She was squishy and only lucky enough to survive Touya's flames, and Yayoi wasn't even four yet. She had to wait so much longer to do anything, to help anyone, and it all had to be done under his watchful eye. All to clean up his mess because he was too proud, too bullheaded to do it himself in a humane way. No one should have let him have a family, even if he was the No. 2 Pro Hero.

The flames began to die down, fizzling out as the room chilled and cold air nipped at her skin. Yayoi didn't pause to consider what was going on, how Enji was able to dim his flames to the point of making it feel like a refrigerator in the room; all she knew was that, as he stood back up and carried her out the door Rei had fled through, the sight left behind him was that of frosted wood rather than burnt embers.

Enji refused to let Yayoi be checked at the same hospital Touya had been taken to. She'd assumed it was due to Yayoi attacking him, or for some sense of pride and not wanting to be associated with such a problem child. Rei had been the only one to stay with Touya at the time, Enji focused on Yayoi while Natsuo and Fuyumi helped take care of Shouto at home; but eventually Enji got restless, and Mariya had to bring Shouto to the hospital as well so Enji could watch over him.

"What if the others try to do the same?" Enji had growled in hushed tones to Rei over the phone. "Relish in the fact that you were right, Rei, but I refuse to let this happen a third time. Yayoi was lucky her heat resistance had surfaced when Touya turned to her after Shouto."

And so she sat in the hospital waiting room, sniffling and pouting all the while. Mariya had yet to arrive with Shouto, but she was sure when they did get here that Enji would be watching the twins like a hawk. What little freedom they did have was gone now, and they only had each other from here on out. Because—and as much as she hated to say it—what if Enji was right? What if whatever had tipped Touya this far affected Natsuo and Fuyumi too? Yayoi knew she could resist flames, but ice? That was still up for debate.

Without anyone to watch over her properly in the waiting room, Yayoi eventually grew bored enough to waddle over to the child play area and sit at the small table. Crayons and paper were laid out on top, along with pages straight from colouring books, and she sneered at the sheer amount of All Might copies half-scribbled in and waiting to be finished. Even when they drew him they made him look godawful. Yayoi flipped a page over, grabbed a red crayon, and glanced quickly at the door. Enji was still on the phone, still trying to hail a doctor and flex his status for faster service.

Yayoi clicked her tongue as she outlined the things she knew about her and her siblings' Quirks. So far she could… turn all red and molten-y under her skin and resist flames as intense as Touya's, whose were noted to be more intense than even Enji's. She had that going for her. As far as she knew, Fuyumi and Natsuo were unremarkable. Same Quirk as Rei? Maybe. Apparently Touya inherited the cold resistance rather than the heat, and that's why he couldn't withstand his own fire. She wrote Shouto's name, drew lines from all but her own effects to him, and hummed.

Okay, if Shouto was the generation that got it right, maybe Yayoi was on the right track too. She wasn't expecting a carbon copy Quirk—she knew right now that wasn't what she had. There was that thing in the kitchen with the room getting colder, and by that point Rei had left… Enji had no ice ability to speak of, or else he'd be less him.

Yayoi growled. C'mon… Almost thirty years of experience combined from this life and the last, and predicting her own Quirk was this hard? Okay, think back to college exams… Basics first—she knew she was at the very least a sink. She absorbed the heat from the coffee and Touya's flames with ease, making her a receiver. Easy peasy. If she had to guess, it was heat absorption that was her base Quirk. Maybe that was how Rei and Enji both tied into her potential Quirk? She stored the heat around her and made things cold?

No, the coffee was still warm on her when she was here last time. Maybe… regulate the heat? No, it'd still be too warm for normal people. She crossed out "sink" and switched to a blue crayon. She grabbed another piece of colouring paper and flipped it over. She noticed the wax of the crayon begin to melt as she gripped it tightly, and Yayoi quickly dropped it.

Ugh, was this like the growing pains of puberty but for Quirks? To hell with this, if she was going to start melting things at random then she'd rather go live in a lake for the rest of her life. How could she protect Shouto if she was the one burning down houses when she wasn't paying attention?

Speaking of burning—the smell of melting plastic hit her nose and Yayoi gagged. She looked down, away from her hand, and watched as the plastic table warped under her arms as they began to glow. And with the table, the paper began to burn and curl in on itself. So much for writing everything down and getting closer to an answer.

Enji scooped her up in quick succession. The table and chair she was sitting in were left to melt, and Enji apologised profusely to the nurse who'd come to see what was going on. At least Yayoi was the only kid in the waiting room today. She hoped they had a spare kiddie corner to use after they cleaned up her mess. One thing was for certain, though: Her Quirk was here, and it was demanding an audience and recognition.

Forgive my reckless use of physics towards the end ;w; I made sure to double check everything but even laymens has its limits for a fool like myself. And if anyone's curious to see artwork of Yayoi, you can find it at renren-writes on tumblr! She's one of the earliest images I reblogged from almaadst, the amazing artist I commissioned to draw her!