A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourite and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.

Why doesn't To-niisan play with Natsu-niisan and me?

Shouto clutched his All Might's figurine close to his chest with his lips curled into a pout. At the age of three Shouto still didn't have his Quirk and spent most of his time playing with Natsuo whenever his second oldest brother came back from school. Sometimes Touya played with them and his oldest brother was the best person to play with.

He always let Shouto win while Natsuo never let him win.

Natsuo-niisan says that To-niisan trains with Father. Shouto nibbled his bottom lip and dragged his tiny feet through the hallway, making sure never to make a sound. Mummy would get worried and sad if she sees that he was awake passed his bedtime. But To-niisan never came to breakfast, which made Natsu-niisan and Fuyu-neechan really upset.

"You think he did something again?"

Shouto stopped in front of the training room, mismatch eyes fixated on it. Everyone told him never to go in there because Father would get angry with him. Even though he was three, Shouto trembles whenever his father turn his eyes at him. He never seems happy to see me. Maybe if his Quirk came soon then his father would be happy with him.

Until his Quirk came, Shouto longed for his father to be happy with him and play with him.

Taking a deep breath, Shouto pressed his small hands against the door and slid it open. Mismatch eyes widened at the sight of his thirteen-year-old brother crumbled on the floor. His red hair covered his turquoise eyes but tear marks strained the floors. But what made Shouto tremble and make tears spill out, it was the sight of swollen, rough, red skin that seemed to replace the normal pale skin of his brother.

Touya looked up and the normal warmness of his brother's eyes seemed gone, replaced with eyes that looked a lot like their Father. Shouto dropped his All-Might figurine, lips trembling as his eyes fixated on the marks in his brother's hands.

"To-niisan?"

His brother grinded his teeth and winced, putting his hands on either side of his stomach and pushed himself up from the floor. "What are you doing here, Shouto? You aren't supposed to be here."

Silence hung between them as turquoise eyes flared with anger. His brother clenched his hands into a fist, eyes shut tightly and sweat dribbled down his face. Shouto took a step back and for a brief moment, turquoise eyes softened slightly but it was soon replaced with his brother crashing down onto the floor. Shouto ran forward, only to be stopped by Touya holding his hand out.

"Don't get closer, Shouto!"

Shouto sniffed as tears dribbled down his cheeks. "I will bring Mummy!"

"No!" Touya clenched his jaw and slapped the floor, causing Shouto to jump up. Fear and pain leaked out of those turquoise eyes but Shouto doesn't understand. Mummy always makes Shouto happy, giving him kisses whenever he feels pain. If Mummy kisses Touya in his boo-boo then maybe Big Brother would feel less pain, but turquoise eyes looked at him like he might bring a monster to him.

Shouto sniffed. "B-But what do I do?"

"Nothing," Touya gritted the words out and looked up at the ceiling. "Shouto…I pray to God that you are born Quirkless," his brother shook his head and corrected himself. "No, I wish you have a Quirk like Mum. He would leave you alone if you can only use ice."

Quirkless? But then Shouto won't be able to become a Hero like All Might and be able to save people. Shouto just stared at him, lips trembling as questions formed in the tip of his tongue. Why would Touya say that? He knew it was his dream so why did he say this to him? Shouto flickered his eyes to his fallen All Might figurine and then to his whimpering brother.

"Why?"

A smile played on his brother's lips but it was not the smiles that Touya gave him whenever Shouto ask him to tell him a story. Not the same smile he gave to Natsu-niisan whenever he tries to catch the taller boy into a headlock, trying to ruffle his hair. It was the smile of someone that looked ready to cry out in pain.

"The bastard will make your life hell."

Shouto does not understand his brother's words until his Quirk appeared a couple of months later. When that day happened, Touya was freed of the shackles that their father placed on him and it was Shouto that became a prisoner to their father's wishes.

Maybe that was one of the reasons Shouto never wanted to use his fire side.

Naruto stopped in front of the infirmary with her lips pressed into a fake smile as her eyes fixated on the temporary infirmary room that Cementoss created for the events. Midoriya might have won his match but he still managed to bruise his fingers to the point that it couldn't even move. Thankfully that and the video replayed shows that I'm not the cause.

"What passion! I love it! Uzumaki's words are cheers of love and passion!"

If it had been up to Aizawa-sensei, Naruto believed the man would have disqualified both her and Midoriya for the actions. But Midnight-sensei was different, always seeing what she wanted to see. Midoriya and I should be happy that she holds the power in the tournament and not Aizawa-sensei. She released a sigh and wrapped her hands around the knob.

She took a deep breath and opened the door to the sides. Stepping in, Naruto could only blink at the sight of Midoriya standing up from his seat as a skeleton-looking man smiled nervously at her. He looks familiar and he smells familiar too. Naruto wrinkled her nose and stared at the man as Midoriya blinked at the sight of her. After a couple of seconds, his eyes grew as big as tennis ball.

"U-Uzumaki, what are you doing here?" Midoriya asked as the skeleton-man jumped from his seat. Naruto kept silence, blue eyes fixated at the skeleton-man that scrambled out of his seat and dashed out of the door. That hairstyle reminds me of All Might. She shook her head at the thought because All Might was a large, muscular man and that guy looked like one good punch was all he needed to be knock out.

She took a seat right beside Midoriya and focused her attention on her friend, blue eyes lingering on the now-healed fingers of her friend. Quirks are really amazing. Even though these people did not have chakra, they seemed to have a Kekkai Genkai for everything. She took a deep breath as Midoriya swung his legs to the other side of the bed.

Finally, Naruto clasped her hands against her head. "I came to check up on you. From where I stood in the stands, your fingers looked like they went through a boxing ring."

Midoriya grimaced at the reminder and looked down at his healed fingers. He stretched his fingers as if to reassure himself it was still working properly. I can never understand that desire. She let out a sigh as her hands hovered above her stomach.

She shook her head, rubbed her chin and stared at her friend. He did throw a good punch at the bastard. Her lips twitched at the memory but she dropped the almost smile. She took several deep breaths as her mind tried to come up with something to say to him. Naruto looked at her own hands before nodding her head, releasing a sigh.

"You did good, Midoriya." She rubbed the back of her neck, almost wishing she could just dart out of there but Midoriya did make her curious about his fingers.

Midoriya jerked his head up and green eyes blinked at the compliment. "Really? You are not going to criticize me again?"

What is the point of me giving criticism when knowing you, you are analyzing how you could have done better? She shook her head and her hands reached out, hovering above his head. Naruto let out a sigh and ruffled his hair, almost wrinkling her nose at the smoothness of his hair. He has better hair than Sakura and Ino. She shook her head as Midoriya looked at her with wide eyes.

Blue eyes focused on green eyes. "Well it is not my job to criticize you, it is Ero-Sennin's job."

Silence hung between them as Midoriya winced, no doubt imagining of the amount of training that Jiraiya might just put them through. Naruto leaned forward, lips twitching at the pure fear along with an emotion that she never thought to associate with Midoriya and that was determination. He is really changing from that timid boy of a year ago. She released a sigh.

"It is a good thing Jiraiya-san isn't here or else he will be scolding me for—"

"—taking the bait," Naruto finished and Midoriya flinched at the reminder. Her lips curled into a frown as Midoriya took a deep breath, shoulders tensing up. "You're lucky that you broke out of that trance or it would be that bastard moving up."

Midoriya grinded his teeth as Naruto hovered her forefinger over her thumb. "You were this close to losing to him."

He shut his eyes, avoiding her blue eyes and Naruto just looked up at the ceiling. She inhaled and exhaled as her eyes darted to his right finger and thumb, smoothed and unbroken. Her hands rubbed her chin and Naruto looked back at her classmate, her head tilted to the side. She poked her tongue against her cheeks, her eyebrows knitted together.

"How did you break out of it? I doubt my words were what broke you out of a trance."

Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck, green eyes avoiding her searching eyes. What happened? She leaned forward as her classmate leaned backwards with his cheeks flushing red. Blue eyes stayed fixated at him and her lips curled into a thin line when the green-haired boy squirmed in his seat. Not telling me is better than lying to me. She guessed he didn't trust her.

To be fair, Naruto would never tell him a lot of things about herself.

"Uzumaki, why did you try to break me out of Shinsou's Quirk?" Naruto blinked as Midoriya fixated his green eyes. Sneaky bastard; he is trying to divert my attention. She pressed her lips into a thin line, eyebrows raised as her classmate tilted his head to the side. "Why did you scream at me? There was a chance that you can't win if Midnight decided it was interference."

"Thank you for believing in me when everyone else didn't believe in me."

She clenched her hands into a tight fist.

"I know it sounds stupid for a Quirkless person like me to want to become a hero…but I can't help it."

Naruto closed her eyes and looked at the television screen. Despite the small break, the crowds looked like they were hanging onto their seats and were already talking about the next match if the way the heroes and various other people seemed to be shuffling closer together. Naruto took another deep breath and stared at the green eyes filled with so much curiosity.

It was like he wanted her to confirm something.

"Do you remember when Mt. Lady made her debut last year?" Midoriya blinked and vigorously nodded, green eyes lit up with excitement as it always did whenever someone talked about heroes. "Do you remember that notebook that you carried around? The one that Bakugou destroyed."

Midoriya grimaced and clenched his hands, looking almost frustrated at what his childhood friend did to his months of hard work. "Yeah."

"Do you remember what you told me?" He blinked and slowly shook his head, head tilted to the side and eyebrows scrunched together. Naruto didn't smile nor did she try again to ruffle his hair. That action was done once in a moment of weakness. Now she needed to focus on the task. "You told me that it sounded stupid for a Quirkless person like you to want to become a hero."

Green eyes widened and Naruto looked at the television screen. "I didn't really think much about it for the last year but then you came to me for training, and I watched you try so hard with Ero-Sennin to control that new Quirk of yours. Then, I remember that dream of yours…and I thought that it would be a shame for you to lose your chance of becoming an amazing hero if you lost in your first round."

Midoriya blinked and it was not long before those green eyes began to tear up at her words. Naruto squirmed, hands rubbing the back of her neck as the boy rubbed his eyes. Not that it helped much since his tears seemed to be soaking her gym outfit. She scowled at him and gently hand-chopped him in the head, causing the boy to look up at her with a wince.

I still need to adjust my strength for someone that doesn't have chakra.

"Stop your crying Midoriya," he sniffed and rubbed his eyes. "You need to toughen up if you want to become that amazing hero that both Ero-Sennin and I think that you are capable of becoming. Honestly no one will look up to a hero that cries in public."

"S-Sorry!"

"And the stuttering too!"

Honestly one minute Midoriya can be cool and the next minute, he reminded her that he had a long way to go before anyone could consider him to be a cool hero.

"The wait is over!"

Naruto nibbled her bottom lip and shoved her hands against her jacket, body leaning forward as chatter erupted from all around her. They were now half-way through the first set of rounds and only now they reached the matches that everyone seemed to be excited for. From right beside her, Asui flickered her eyes from her to the empty arena.

"The cream of the crop! Yet this guy somehow is still as plain as they can be! Sero Hanta from Class A!" Sero stepped out of the tunnel, cracking his fingers together as he gulped down a lump at the sight of his opponent. "He's going against one of the strongest students in their year! Todoroki Shouto from Class A!"

"Do any of you guys think Sero has a chance against Todoroki?" Kaminri asked, head tilted to the side and yellow eyes danced with excitement at the match-up.

Satou shook his head. "Have you seen Todoroki in All Might's lessons? He's insane. Sero will be lucky if he can even last one minute against that guy."

"Todoroki is one of the strongest kids in our year," Kirishima rubbed his chin and flickered his red eyes from the blond-haired girl to the scowling blond-haired boy sitting right beside him. "I think the only people that have a chance of giving us a show when it comes to him is Uzumaki and Bakugou."

Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line and made no comment as Bakugou smirked at the clear compliment shot in his direction. The blond-haired girl leaned forward, blue eyes focused on her friend as her classmates continued to debate about how long the match was going to be, and who could actually fight him. Asui pressed her lips into a thin line, her emotionless eyes locked on the blond-haired girl.

Pink lips curled into a frown as Naruto took in the stance of her friend. His shoulders seemed to be hunched up, those mismatch eyes seemed to be in another place and time and his hands seemed to be constantly clenching and unclenching. What's going through his head? She pushed her bottom lip front and back as the tension in the atmosphere grew and grew till it seemed thick enough for Naruto to cut.

"Begin!"

"I don't feel like winning!" Sero stretched his arms, lips curled into a smirk and brown eyes glinted with determination. "But I also don't feel like losing!"

He swung his arm back and forth, shooting his tape straight at Todoroki. White tape spring and whirled as Sero wrapped Todoroki like he was some kind of present. I think Ero-Sennin might get some inspiration for his more kinkier scenes because of Sero. He swung her friend like a Yo-yo, allowing Naruto to have a better look at Todoroki's eyes.

He looked like he is lost and confused about something.

Todoroki was getting distracted and it made Naruto squirm in her seat, blue eyes focused on the trouble expression of her friend. Coldness began to seep and fill the stadium, nipping Naruto to the bone as everyone leaned forward to see what happened. Large glaciers formed as Naruto's teeth started to chatter. He looks so far away. She blinked when Asui placed her large hands on her shoulder and Naruto turned to look at her.

"Are you okay, Uzumaki-chan." Asui kept her voice low as an ice glacier encased Sero. Dark, muddy green eyes stared at Todoroki. "You don't seem happy that Todoroki-chan won. Are you still angry with him even after he made Mineta and Kaminari wear those cheerleader outfits."

Naruto forced herself to smile, blue eyes fixed on her friend who held out his left hand to melt down the ice as Midnight announced that he won. The distance between them might be a couple of meters but it felt like they were in two different countries.

Always seeing each other and talking to each other, but never in the same page.

"You didn't go easy at all with Sero…the way you fought him was just a bit too much."

Naruto pressed her lips together into a thin line, hands inside her pockets as Todoroki and her stood inside the tunnels. Mismatch eyes stared at her, lips pressed into a thin line as her friend took in a deep breath. He closed his eyes, eyebrows scrunched together as his hands clenched into a fist. Not in anger but maybe in guilt because his actions were just too harsh for their classmate.

"I know." Todoroki's tone seemed to hold no emotions but there was a slight hint of regret. Blue eyes softened and Naruto took a deep breath, withdrawing her hands against her pockets.

"You looked like you were in pain throughout the whole match."

Todoroki made no comment, only closing his eyes and hunching his shoulders. Naruto pressed her lips together and walked towards the wall. Taking a deep breath, she sat down on the floor and stared at her friend. Mismatch eyes opened and Todoroki tilted his head at her. She patted the empty spot right beside her and with his eyebrows knitted together, her friend sat right beside her.

"I need time."

Silence fell between them as Naruto placed her head over her knees, blue eyes fixated on the walls in front of them. I need time to accept my left side. That was what Todoroki seemed to be implying if you asked her. She tilted her head to the side where Todoroki sat with her blond-hair smacking the wall behind them.

"We have all the time in the world," Naruto inhaled. "Do you want to talk about what happened there? That was brutal thing for you to do. You don't usually make your ice glaciers that big."

Todoroki nodded. "Shouldn't you be focusing on your next match? You are going to go against Tokoyami."

He doesn't want to talk about his problems. She chewed her tongue till a little bit of blood leaked out because if Naruto say anything then they might be back to square one. So Naruto just focused her bright blue eyes on her friend, her fingers digging against her skin.

"You shouldn't try to change the topic, Todoroki." He curled his lips into a thin eyes, mismatch eyes flashing slightly with irritation as her eyes gazed right into his own. "When I told you that I will be there for you, I was a 100% serious about it."

No words came out of his mouth but his eyes darkened slightly like it always did whenever Todoroki thought of the man that helped create him. He is kind of predictable in this way. She took several deep breaths, closed her eyes as she try to think of how to bring it up gently but in a blunt way.

"Were you thinking about him during that match?" Todoroki swirled his head at her, mismatch eyes growing wide and Naruto lifted up her head. She nodded. "It seems like everything for you leads back to him."

He kept silent but the way his hands constantly curling and uncurling told her that she hit the jackpot. Blue eyes flickered from him to her necklace and then the words of Aizawa-sensei tickled in her mind, constantly reminding her of how her teacher seemed to be there for her. How he wanted her to open up to him or to anyone really.

She did trust people and the proof was in the boy right beside her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Naruto flashed him a smile. "I heard talking does wonders to the soul or whatever bullshit."

Todoroki's eyes seemed to falter as his lips quirked like he wanted to smile at her words. Naruto stared up at the ceiling as her mind came up with another plan to help her friend. It could work, couldn't it? She nibbled her bottom lip and her clenched hands began to uncurl, relaxing against her knees.

"Do you want to make a deal with me?" Todoroki raised his eyebrow as her lips dried up. It was probably not her best idea but sometimes when you need to help a friend, you had to do something you don't feel comfortable with doing. If I really consider him as my friend then I should let myself be a little bit vulnerable with him. It was a risk but Todoroki wouldn't hurt her.

"Everytime we talk about what your Dad did to you or your family, I will tell you about what my experience was."

The words hung in the air and mismatch eyes widened as Todoroki jerked his head at her. She forced herself to smile even though the memories swirled around her head, almost threatening to consume her. Inhale and exhale. Her heart beat began to slow down and the sweat that build around her palm seemed to stop building up.

"You are really serious about this."

She nodded. "I wasn't lying when I said that I will be there for you. I know I haven't been the most friendliest person to you or any of my classmates but…"

The words died down in her sentence but her friend just nodded, his eyes now focused on the wall as the cheers from the stadium bounced off the walls, telling them that it was now Tokage going against Kaminari. Mismatch eyes flickered to her and Todoroki inhaled.

"I wasn't the first choice for Endeavour," Naruto blinked and Todoroki closed his eyes, lips pressed into a thin line. "The one he actually wanted to train was Touya. Touya was his first weapon, almost perfect in his eyes because he can make fire that was hotter than any fire that my shitty man can ever make."

She closed her blue eyes as Todoroki's quiet voice lured her in, almost like he was telling her a lullaby then a painful story. "But Touya had one big problem that my father just couldn't fix with training or with the doctors."

Naruto opened her eyes and leaned closer to him, her hand hovering just above his shoulder. Should she try to rub his shoulder and comfort him? Does she hug him? Naruto liked to give physical comfort to people but Todoroki sometime did tense up if someone touch him. Instead she took a couple of deep breaths and tried to think what else to do.

So she left her hand just like that.

"What was the problem, Todoroki?"

Todoroki inhaled. "It was very easy for his skin to get burn up. Even though he had a very strong Fire Quirk, his body was more suited for Ice Quirks. It is ironic because Fuyumi has an ice Quirk but her body is more suited for a fire Quirk."

"What did Endeavour do to him?"

"He trained him like he did with me," Naruto blinked and Todoroki took a deep breath. "He kept training Touya and never seemed to stop when it came to him. One day he pushed Touya too far and the end result was…Touya getting severely burnt around his body."

She closed her eyes, lips twisted in horror as her friend clenched and unclenched his hands. Naruto lowered her hands over his shoulder, but then she dropped her hands to her side. Hugging him won't make him feel better. Listening to him and just being there might be enough for him. She gulped down a lump.

"Touya told me that he wished I only inherited our mother's Quirk," Todoroki admitted. "He knew from the very beginning that the shitty old man was just waiting to see if my Quirk would be able to overcome the weakness that Touya's Quirk had."

Silence hung between them as Todoroki flickered his eyes at her. Mismatch eyes seemed to be waiting for her to say something or do something but what could she do? Naruto grinded her teeth together, feeling helpless that she really had no idea of how to comfort him. She blinked when Todoroki nodded as if her actions confirmed something.

"Touya ran away a few months after turning seventeen," Todoroki informed her. "No one really knows where he went and just like my mother, the topic of Touya is never brought up in the house."

I am trusting you with this information.

Naruto nodded and offered him a smile.

"If I used my left side then how do I know he won't try to go back to the same grueling methods that he used on Touya?" Todoroki clenched and unclenched his hands as blue eyes fixated on him. "He will just push me to go over my limit and getting burnt is more difficult to treat then getting frost around my body."

"You can always come to me if he ever tries something," Todoroki blinked as Naruto flashed him a smile. "I will just knock him out and you can have your evil way with him. Just say the word and I will fight him."

Todoroki's lips quirked up and his mismatch eyes focused on her. Blue eyes stared back and no amusement shone through them. Because Naruto told him the truth, he just needed to give her the word and she would go straightened him out. She did it for Hinata-chan so it was only fair she did it for Todoroki.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto dropped her smile. "Anyways a deal is a deal."

"It doesn't have to be today." His voice was low and the slight hint of concern almost made Naruto smile. She inhaled again, tucking a strand of her blond-hair as the voices of the past echoed in her ear. Mismatch eyes stared at her, lingering on her trembling fingers but Naruto grinded her teeth and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I'm a girl of my word." Todoroki grimaced and he stared at the wall like he knew that Naruto did not want him to see her when she talked about her own past. "Until I was four, I used to live in an orphanage with a lot of kids and an elderly woman."

'Monsters like you don't deserve to cry.'

She sucked in a deep breath. "The matron was nice to all the kids, always comforting them whenever they had problems and always acting like a mother to them."

Naruto took in a couple of deep breath and her hands trembled like it always did whenever the memory cropped up in her head. She might be fifteen but the memory was still sharp in her mind from the way the matron smelt like cookies to the way her eyes stared at her like she didn't deserve to live.

"One day I got into an argument with my roommate," Naruto took in a deep breath. "She kept calling me a monster instead of using the nickname that I used to adore…which was Naru-chan."

"My name is Naruto! I'm Naru-chan!"

Todoroki stiffened and she pressed her lips into a thin line as tears threatened to leak out. Naruto furiously rubbed her eyes, cursing herself for choosing that memory but it seemed like the least harmful one out of the memories that she had.

"My roommates just kept taunting me about how my name was now Monster," Naruto took a deep breath. "And instead of continuing to cry about it and yell at them, I decided to yank them by the hair and fight them. They screamed at me to stop and the matron must have heard our screams, because she came in."

Her throat tightened up.

"The matron never called me by my name and she never looks at me," Naruto stretched her fingers and then clenched her hands. "But that night, she looked at me and do you know what her eyes were telling me? They were telling me that I was a monster."

She grinded her teeth. "I thought my roommates were my friends but instead of taking my side and saying that one of my roommates started it, they said I started the whole thing. Sure I hit them but they called me a Monster. I kept telling the Matron that my name was Naruto, Naru-chan…not monster."

Mismatch eyes flickered to her and Naruto forced herself to smile even though her heart kept clenching like there was no tomorrow. Would this pain ever fade away? It had been years but her throat still burned at the memory. Tears still threatened to consume her and Naruto hated it.

"You know the Matron comforted all the kids but she never comforted me," Bitterness leaked into her voice as Naruto grinded her teeth. "I wanted her to hug me and tell me that they were wrong. You know what she did instead?"

Todoroki kept quiet and the silence was just enough for her to get the courage to spit it out to him.

"She smacked me hard in the face," Naruto touched her right cheek and flinched while a pair of mismatch eyes grew blank. "Told me that monsters like me didn't deserve to get comfort. That I didn't deserve to cry and I wanted someone to rescue me at that time."

But no one did.

She pinched her cheeks and forced herself to smile but Todoroki just stared at her. His mismatch eyes flashed with only two emotion, the two emotion that she wanted from the matron and that was…kindness and sympathy. She swallowed down the hiccups and just smiled at him.

"You aren't a monster."

Todoroki was a little bit too late to say those words, because she was a monster. She killed so many people to protect Eri and that was what monsters do. Those people might have had families and she destroyed those families to protect Eri.

The Matron was right about her in that sense.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter. What do you think of the friendship between Todoroki and Naruto?