chapter 6
Shouto closed the door to his bedroom, walked across the room and leaned his back against his dresser. Sakura stood just inside his bedroom door, waiting.
Talking to her in the park that morning had been out of character for him. It had pulled him out of his usual comfort zone. Interaction with others had never been one of his strong points.
Not because he couldn't do it, or because it made him anxious like it made some people. He didn't avoid people because he was self conscious, no, he avoided them because he didn't like them. He had too much in his own life to focus on, the hate that he harbored for his father left no room in his heart, or his mind, for others.
Consuming, it was consuming him.
Guilt, fear, self loathing. All of it took up too much of him but when he had seen Sakura on the ground in the park, disoriented, alone and in need, he felt for the first time in his life that he should do something, help someone. Help her.
He did want to be a hero after all didn't he, not just a means to his father's end but his own? That's why he had walked to school that morning, that's why he had walked home instead of taking the family car right?
...and because he had made those choices, he had met Sakura. Shouto didn't believe in coincidences. He didn't believe in luck. He made the decision to reach out to her that morning, and she had reached back. She was his responsibility now.
"Sakura, I know you're new to Japan but this is bad. I need to ask you…" He paused, took a deep breath looking down at his hands in front of him, then looked back up at her. "Were you telling me the truth when you told me you were here alone?"
Honestly, Sakura didn't understand why it was such a big deal. She had offered to heal the guy. Then she remembered the two boys on the bus talking about how you weren't allowed to use your quirk unless you were licenced. ...but why was it relevant if she was alone or not?
Sakura chewed her bottom lip. She didn't owe him the truth, nor an explanation of her circumstances but he had been nice to her. He had tried to help her and if she was honest with herself, she was really starting to like him. He was clearly intelligent. He wasn't aggressive or demanding like Shigaraki had been and the more girly side of her, the Ino side of her, thought he was kinda cute.
She took a resigning breath.
"I'm alone. Is what I did really that bad?" She asked him. Clearly it was, but she still couldn't fully comprehend his reaction. In Konoha…but she wasn't in Konoha anymore.
It was evident to Shouto she really had no idea how much trouble she could get into for attacking and injuring someone like that, for using her quirk illegally. He wondered, if she had, would she still have broken Kimoji's wrist? He looked her in the eyes, probably. Shouto sighed, she didn't look very remorseful even if it had been an accident and ignorance wouldn't get her very far with the police.
Unless she had someone to speak for her, family or friends to help her. Even then, it depended on who they were, who they knew and how much money they had. Alone and disoriented as she had been that morning he doubted she had any sort of useful connections to fall back on. If she did, she wouldn't have been throwing up in the park.
She had used her quirk without a license, and had hurt someone. She had snapped Kimoji's wrist so easily, clearly she didn't know how to use her quirk safely. This was bad. He needed to explain to her how things were here.
She must have a power up quirk or something, he thought to himself, she had barely touched Kimoji. Shouto looked skeptically at Sakura, was she really this naive of the laws or was she trying him on? No, he didn't think this was an act. She really didn't seem to understand.
The police would be at the house soon. He needed to think. He needed to know more about her situation in order to protect her. They could talk about her quirk later.
"So you have no one here who can help you with the police, no one to vouch for you?" He asked her, crossing his arms over his chest, his mind already formulating a plan.
"Well…" Sakura thought of Shigaraki.
No, she wasn't about to ask him for help. She didn't know him any better than she knew Shouto and she thought he was a bit more...cynical than the man before her. More dangerous and more violent. If she reached out for his assistance, he would want something from her in return. "Just you. I don't have any friends here."
It wasn't a lie. She and Shigaraki were not friends.
"I see." Shouto rubbed his chin with his left hand. He had been correct. She had no one. "I need to speak with my sister. I'll explain to her that…"
Knock Knock!
Both of their heads turned toward Shouto's bedroom door. Sakura bit her lip. Shouto moved to his bedroom door and slid it open. Turning back toward Sakura, he nodded to his bed. "Stay here, don't worry. I'll take care of this, Sakura. Just don't come out, okay?"
He waited. She didn't move, she didn't speak. "Please Sakura. Trust me." His eyes held hers.
Trust him...okay. Sure. Trust. No problem, she didn't have a lot of options did she? If what she had done was really as bad as he was making it out to be then she needed his help. She didn't want to be arrested before she could find her way back home did she?
No.
"Okay." Sakura sat down on the edge of Shouto's bed and crossed her hands in her lap. He knew his world better than she did. She had to trust him, at least for this.
"I'll be right back." Shouto told her, and slid his door shut behind him as he joined his sister in the foyer.
Sakura looked around Shouto's room. It reminded her of the Uchiha compound back home. She had only been there once, with Ino. They had 'snuck' in the back, looking for Sasuke when his older brother had found them, escorted them to the front of the compound and ushered them back into Konoha main. Three days later, Itachi had killed his entire clan, save one. Sasuke.
"Yet another similarity." She mumbled to the empty room as she moved into the center of his bed, pulling her knees up with her arms and linking her fingers together so that she was hugging herself. She didn't know Shouto's situation but she saw the signs, she could feel the tension in the house. It was all too familiar to her.
Hatred and regret. The house was saturated with it.
Coating the inner canals of her ears with her chakra, Sakura tilted her head to the side, one ear toward the door and listened to the voices down the hall. Taking Shouto's advice was all well and good, but she refused to be kept in the dark. She would allow him to speak for her, but she would know what it was he said and to whom.
"That's impossible, Shouto's been home for the last, oh , I don't know how long, an hour? He walked home from school and has been in his room ever since. I'm not sure what those boys thought happened, and man it's a shame that one of their wrists got broken, but it couldn't have been Shouto in the park with, what did you say, a girl with pink hair?" Fuyumi was speaking to the police when Shouto walked up behind her.
Shouto relaxed his face and let his arms hang casually by his sides. It was just like old times, just like before their mom had gone away, when the police had been frequent visitors to their home.
"What's going on sis, did something happen to dad?" Shouto asked, looking from one officer to the other. He watched them shift in their shoes. They were hesitant, like always, they were unsure of themselves. He pushed his advantage.
"Did something happen to my father? Is Endeavour okay?" Shouto drove his point home, his act flawless, his tone steady and strong.
Shouto and his sister were pros at this, the police would get nothing out of them. They never did, not even when they were younger. They had been raised to keep a good public face, raised to lie to the outside world.
No one knew what their lives were really like. No one knew how their father had treated them, how he had beat their mother and how he had abused them both mentally and physically.
To the rest of the world, to the rest of Hero society, they were a perfect family, 'The' perfect family. It didn't matter what happened behind closed doors, no, it only mattered what everyone outside of those damned doors thought of them.
They were Todorokis', Endeavour's family, the number two hero. They had an image to maintain.
"No Todoroki, we are not here about your father, uh…" The police officer hesitated. The son was just as intimidating as the father. "Tell me, were you in the park earlier today, the park by the market district?"
"My brother is a minor, you have no right to question him about…" Fuyumi spoke before Shouto could even take another breath, her hands out in front of her, waving the policemen back toward the door. Their father would be home soon, they needed to leave quickly.
"Yes." Shouto blinked once at the officers.
"I walked through the park on my way home from school about fifty minutes ago. I assume you will wish to know what time I was at the park since you made a point to ask me if I was there specifically, in the first place. What is this about, if not my father?" Shouto raised an eyebrow at the officers who gave one another a nervous look.
"One of your classmates said you and your girlfriend were causing discord in the park today after school, that your girlfriend broke Kimoji Kanhura's wrist when he playfully patted her on the back. Illegal use of one's quirk is a serious offense. Do you have anything to say about that? Where is your girlfriend now, we would like to question her as well." The officer bowed to Shouto, for form's sake.
"I don't have a girlfriend." Shouto's voice was flat and unemotional. "I did not see Kimoji at the park while I was walking home from school, and I am fully aware of our laws and regulations."
"Ah, well…" The police officer hesitated in the face of Shouto's stoic patience for his presence in his home. However, he still had a job to do. "His friend, a Hatoshi Ragai, swears he was with Kimoji and also saw you and your girlfriend at the park. Both boys claim that…"
"One wrong imbecile can always find another." Shouto crossed his arms over his chest, staring both of the officers down. "Do you have any proof to back up your ridiculous claim? Is this what you call justice?"
"What's going on here?" A deep booming voice exploded from behind the two officers making them jump. "Ah, the police. What are you doing at my house? If you need me you know to call my agency." Endeavor gave each officer a measured eye, his arms crossed over his chest.
Father and son stood side by side, the same stern expression on their faces, their arms crossed over their chests. Fuyumi rolled her eyes internally. Was Shouto the only one who couldn't see the similarities? Try as he might, she knew her little brother was more like their father out of any of them, like it or not, for better or for worse.
"Endeavour sir! Yes, of course we know to call your agency. We aren't here on hero business, but police business." The officer looked over his shoulder at Shouto. "We're here about your son and his girlfriend."
"Shouto? Shouto doesn't have a girlfriend. A waste of time, he has more important things to focus on, like getting into UA." Endeavor wasn't impressed by the police's presence in his home. "So leave."
"Forgive me Endeavor but your son and his uh girlfriend have been accused of hurting a fellow student and…" The second officer tried to back up his partner.
"Shouto." His father's voice boomed throughout the foyer. "Did you hurt one of your fellow classmates?"
"No." Shouto replied tonelessly.
"There you have it." Endeavour raised a flaming eyebrow at the police. "He didn't do it, now leave. Unless you are able to provide me with proof?"
Both officers shook their heads.
"Of course sir. The boys must have been mistaken." The officer's bowed and left the house together, whispering quietly between them as they did so.
"Shouto." His father began.
"Not interested. I have a guest." Shouto turned on his heel and walked down the hall to his room ignoring his father.
"Guest?" Endeavor looked at his daughter for an explanation.
"Shouto brought home a girl." Fuyumi squeaked out before running back into the kitchen and closing the door. "She's in his bedroom." She called out from behind the door.
"A girl?" Endeavor stared down the hall at his son's closed door. "His bedroom?"
Shouto clenched his fists as he walked slowly back down the hall toward his bedroom. He had hoped to get rid of the police before his father got home. Usually he didn't care where his father was, what he was doing or what time he got home, but…
Shouto slid his bedroom door open and paused, looking into his room. Sakura was lying diagonally on his bed, her book in her hands, reading.
...now he did.
"Sakura." Shouto stepped into his room, shutting the door behind himself and walked over to his bed.
Before he could say anything else, Sakura shifted her weight, rolled over onto her side, up into a sitting position, tucking her legs up and underneath herself and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry." Sakura grimaced. "I heard everything. I didn't realize that um...I didn't mean to put you in such a…" How could she tell him how she felt?
She was annoyed, but grateful. She still didn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal out of something that could be fixed so easily but she wanted him to know she acknowledged his efforts and that she understood the extent he was going to, to help her.
"I might not understand this place, or agree with the rules here but I know you didn't have to do that for me, lie for me." Sakura bowed her head ever so slightly. "Thank you."
Shouto swallowed. Grace. That's what it was he realized. That's what had drawn him to her. She had grace, like his mother.
Moving closer, he sat on the end of his bed. It was a lowered more traditional platform bed, but modern compared to the rest of the house. His legs stretched out over the tatami mat, his fingers gripped the frame and his eyes fell to the space between them.
"It's not something I ever thought I would do for someone other than a family member." He admitted to her. "There are things about my life, about my family I can't tell you yet and I know there are things about yourself you can't tell me yet but I hope that...I hope in time we could…"
Sakura waited for him to find his words. He seemed to be struggling. She doubted he spoke like this with many people.
"I hope in time we can be the kind of friends who, who share those things with one another." He continued to look down at the space between her hand and his, his fingers twitching. "You're strange, different I mean and…"
She could see he had said more than he had meant to and she wondered if he had ever spoken so honestly out loud with anyone before now, or to himself. It was courageous to put your honest emotions out in the open, but it was also foolish to admit such feelings to someone you had just met.
"You don't even know me." Sakura spoke quietly. She didn't want to impune him or his feelings but it felt like things were moving too fast. It felt like a lie almost and she wasn't sure why.
"I want to get to know you." Shouto said simply. "I want to know about your quirk. You said you could heal Kimoji. A broken bone, you can heal broken bones? How?" He asked her to change the subject purposefully.
"Quirk, you mean you think it's a quirk?" She furrowed her brows. How could she explain chakra manipulation to him, should she?
"You barely touched Kimoji and broke his wrist, surely that is a quirk of some kind. Do you have two quirks? A damage quirk and a healing one? That is amazing, I have two as well. I have both ice and fire quirks. So you're like me then? You have two complimenting and opposing quirks?" Shouto kept the space between them but leaned closer to her in his interest to hear her reply.
Sakura hesitated. It would be easier to explain her chakra control as a quirk. It was something he could understand, unlike seals, jutsu and shinobi. By his own admission he already assumed she was like him, similar to him and had a logical understanding of conflicting abilities, an acceptance of it in his mind.
"Yes." Sakura's eyes rose to meet his. One blue eye, one slate eye. Kakashi sensei, Sakura tamped down her emotions. Shouto's right eye reminded her of Kakashi's right eye. "I suppose you could call it a quirk here. I don't know how else to explain it to you other than calling it a quirk."
Shouto had begun to nod as she spoke but stopped by the time she finished her last sentence. What an odd way to agree with him. She didn't know how else to explain it to him, so it wasn't a quirk? If it wasn't a quirk, what was it? She probably wouldn't tell him even if he asked, so he didn't. Instead he asked her another question. Another thing he was curious about.
"This morning Sakura, when we first met in the park, you moved so quickly and your stance, you immediately fell into a defensive stance as though you...I won't ask you to answer anything you don't want to, feel you can't answer but I am curious. Have you had fight training?" He asked her.
Sakura laughed. Did she have fight training? "Yeah." She forced herself to stop laughing. He was frowning at her now. Of course he didn't understand why she was laughing at him. "You could say I have fight training."
Silence fell between them. Sakura played with the ends of her skirt while Shouto watched her. They were both thinking. One, of the questions he had just asked her, the other, of her answers.
"Good." Shouto nodded to himself, he had been speaking to himself as if convincing himself. Looking up he nodded again. "It's good to know you can take care of yourself. Musutafu can be a dangerous place. There tend to be a lot of villains in the cities and it's good to know you are capable of looking out for yourself."
"I can take care of myself." Sakura assured him. "You don't need to worry about me, but thanks." She smiled at him, her eyes crinkling up into half moons of amusement.
"Well…" Shouto hesitated. He didn't want to insult her but she herself admitted she wasn't familiar with their laws or customs here. "I do have to worry about you a little. I mean, after what just happened today in the park. What would you have done if I hadn't been there?" He asked her logically.
"Well, I wouldn't have been there if you hadn't been there." She pointed out, just as logically. "I suppose I would have healed him ." She shrugged.
"I'm not sure that would have been any better. Kimoji, as you saw, isn't the most subtle of people. He would have talked, told people about your quirk. There aren't many people that have a healing quirk, it's kinda rare." He told her. "Is it immediate like Recovery Girl's healing quirk or is it more gradual?"
"I don't know who Recovery Girl is. I've heard the name before." From Shigaraki, she recalled. "Depending on how serious the wound is, most of the time it's immediate."
"Hn." Shouto looked around his room, again missing the look of unease on Sakura's face. "Can I try something?"
"What?" Sakura was wary. What could he possibly want to try?
"Heal me." Shouto opened the drawer to his nightstand beside his bed, pulled out a small blade and sliced his palm open. Blood purled from the open cut and dripped over the edge of his hand, splattering onto his bedding.
"What the hell." Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man beside her. "You're taking quite a risk aren't you?" She didn't make any move toward him, she sat, her back straight, her eyes resting on the jumping pulse in his neck.
Shouto realized, she was keeping her calm just as he was, she was evaluating him silently as he evaluated her openly, challenging her to prove her claim to him in blood, his blood.
"Heal me." It was a command.
"Are you sure you want me to do that Todoroki? Are you sure you want to know all that I'm capable of?" This, Sakura thought of Shikamaru, was a game of shoji.
"Yes." Shouto's voice was measured, calm and low.
Check and mate.
It was admirable. She had to admit. He wasn't a coward by any means, no. She could respect that about a man. "Okay. Just remember, you asked for it."
Sakura raised her left hand over Shouto's right, pushed her chakra to her palm and then her fingertips. Watched as the flow of blood slowed, then ceased completely. Watched as his skin knit itself back together before both of their eyes, then waited. Waited for the questions, waited for his reaction.
"I knew it." He was vindicated. He was surprised but he was thrilled. Looking up into the greenest eyes he had ever seen he repeated himself. "I knew it. You're different from anyone else I've ever met. I don't think there is another person alive like you Sakura. You're really something special aren't you?"
He was looking at her like she meant something, like she was someone and Sakura found it very hard to look away.
"I'm nobody." Her eyes dropped with her voice.
"I'm not special. I'm just lost." She would have cried then if she could have, if she wasn't in his house, on his bed, she would have sobbed uncontrollably to herself. Stress she told herself, it was the stress of the situation. It was finally hitting her, the magnitude of her circumstances.
She was lost, just like Shigaraki told her she was. She was alone, Tomura had been right.
"Whoever told you that, was a fool. Whoever made you feel like that, isn't worth your tears." Shouto laid his hand over hers.
"I'm not crying." Sakura whispered. How could he know? He didn't know.
"Not on the outside." Shouto squeezed her hand. "Not where others can see."
He knew didn't he? Not about Sasuke, not that she was civilian born or that she had nightmares about Sasori of the Red Sand, about Pein's attack on Konoha but he knew. He knew what it was like to never measure up to others expectations, to your own expectations of yourself, how you were never good enough.
No, he had no idea Shigaraki had spoken those words to her or how they made her feel, what she was feeling now but he had been there, he had felt that way before. That damned bond was back, she could feel the strings tightening around her heart as she sat there on his bed.
Did she want this? Could she afford to make such bonds with him? He was right though. He was right, she admitted.
"No, I never cry where anyone can see. Not anymore." She sniffed a tearless sniff.
"Me either." Shouto pulled her into a hug. "Never again." He spoke softly into her hair.