chapter 17
"What's the point in drinking if you're just going to use your chakra to burn the alcohol from your blood?" Tomura watched Sakura lift her flute to her lips. "That's your third glass." He complained.
"I can still enjoy a good buzz, Tomura." They had dropped polite honorifics a week ago. "If I drink a little too much, it won't affect my fighting abilities, but the more one drinks, the less one tends to know exactly how or when they became drunk. I learned that from watching my shisou." Sakura drained her glass and set it down on the table next to the shoji board.
"It's your move." Sakura smiled at Shigaraki, her cheeks turning pink. One more glass and she would stop. He was right, it was kinda a waste of alcohol, but she wasn't a fool. Even if they were more cordial with one another, it didn't mean she trusted him anymore than she had when they first met.
"I know it's my move, relax." Tomura glared at the shoji board in front of him. He had never played shoji before Sakura came into his life. Personally he didn't see the point to it. Reaching out across the board with two fingers he picked up the piece occupying c-3 and moved it three spaces to the left.
"You can't move that one that way, remember?" Sakura nodded to Kurogiri who was filling her glass for her again. "You tried to do that last time. Learn from your mistakes, geez."
Tomura grabbed the piece from the spot he had placed it in and slammed it back down where he had gotten it from. "This is so infuriating. Why can't I move him there, and stop being so bossy!"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "You really are like a child sometimes aren't you? If you know the pieces on the board and their strengths, you wouldn't want to move that one there." She pointed to the piece next to the one he had originally chosen. "What about this one, do you remember how this one moves?"
Tomura leaned over and squinted at the piece. "Diagonally, only diagonally." He looked up at her. "Right?"
"Exactly, and this one here, you remember right?" She pointed to her king.
"Oh." Tomura picked up the piece she had shown him, moved it diagonally across the spaces to block in her king. "Check mate." He grumbled.
Sakura smiled. "If you know your players strengths as well as their weaknesses, it's pretty easy to place them isn't it? The trick, Tomura, is to really see what it is you're looking at and what you're looking for? You have to have a plan, from the very start, before you move any of the pieces, you have to have every move planned out to end game."
Tomura looked down at the shoji board, then back up at Sakura. "You did that on purpose didn't you? You set that up to show me what I was doing wrong?"
"Not to show you what you were doing wrong Tomura, to show you that you have the potential to do what is needed to win, if you just stay calm and think things through. Stop getting so flustered." Sakura leaned over the shoji board, her left hand out, reaching for his neck.
"What are you doing?" Tomura moved back and away from her quickly, making her giggle.
"I was going to heal your neck for you. You've been scratching a lot lately." She waited until he sat back down across from her. "Something big happening for you soon?" She placed her palm against his skin. With a little chakra she began to heal his open wound.
"Stop fishing for information." He squirmed under her touch. He had gotten better over the last month controlling his impulses, letting her heal him had been a hard step for him, both in touch and trust. If his Master hadn't insisted on it, he probably would have kept avoiding her. "If you want to know something just ask, stop playing word games, I hate it."
"Fair enough." She was the same way. Blunt, that was her preference as well. Sometimes though, she pulled her hand from Tomura's neck, blunt wasn't always the best approach. "What are you planning, Tomura?"
"What makes you think I'm planning something?" Tomura rubbed his hands over his neck, his pinky finger taped, per his usual when she visited.
"So much for being direct." Sakura blew upward, her hair falling in her face, she blew again and it fell off to the side.
"Just because you ask doesn't mean I'll tell you, but I'd rather you be direct, instead of coy." He looked back down at the shoji board. "I don't want to play anymore. Let's watch T.V."
"Fine with me." Sakura moved the board to the end of the table and sat back in the booth.
Shigaraki rose from the bench on the opposite side of Sakura, went to the bar and pulled a beer from the fridge, then put it back thinking. Turning back to the booth, he slid into the seat beside Sakura, not close, but on the same side.
"Kurogiri, did you get that new drink I saw on the T.V last night?" Tomura called over his shoulder. "The new brand?"
"Of course Tomura Shigaraki, shall I prepare one for you and the kunoichi?" Kurogiri inquired.
Tomura looked at Sakura. "Well?"
Sakura looked down at her empty glass, she was warm, but not drunk, she would be fine if she burned some of the alcohol from her bloodstream in the next ten or fifteen minutes. "Sure."
Tomura picked up the remote and turned the T.V on while Kurogiri prepared their drinks. The 11PM news was on.
In the news tonight, Number One Hero in the world, All Might announced he will be teaching at UA High this year./
"That's All Might?" Sakura asked Tomura as Kurogiri set their drinks down on the table in front of them. Sakura picked her glass up and took a drink. "Ugh, what is this?"
"Yeah, he makes me sick." Tomura picked his glass up, drained it and set it back down waving at Kurogiri for another.
Sakura blinked. "You're drinking a little fast aren't you?"
"It's called a shot, you're supposed to drink it like that. What are you worried about anyway, just burn it from your blood or whatever." He picked up his glass again, threw it back and slammed it down again.
Sakura looked down at her glass. "Okay."
Tomura watched her swallow the imported whiskey in one go, watched Kurogiri refill her glass and then watched as she drank that one as well.
"Another?" He asked her amused.
"Just one more." Sakura picked her glass up for Kurogiri, her hand steady, her eyes unfocused. "Last one, then I should go. It's getting late."
"Last one." Shigaraki picked his glass up and took his shot with her, setting his glass down on the table with a slight thump. "You'll feel it in a minute. This isn't like that champagne you like, this is much stronger."
Sakura looked down at the now empty glass in front of her. It was stronger, she could feel it in her blood. "No kidding." She giggled.
Tomura looked over at her, annoyed. She never got drunk, never let herself drop her guard around him. It was almost admirable but horribly annoying as well.
"It's an import from the United States. It's very popular over there but I believe it originated from the country of Scotland." Kurogiri poured Tomura another glass, then after only a minor hesitation, Sakura. "It's called Glen Dronach Revival single malt whiskey."
"Whiskey." Sakura murmured the strange word under her breath, then giggled at herself. "Sounds weird." She hummed to herself.
Tomura narrowed his eyes at the kunoichi beside him. "Are you drunk?" Was she playing with him, was this another one of her tricks?
"Of course not." Sakura scoffed at the very idea. Her gums were numb.
"Maybe a little, but not for long." She rubbed the sides of her head by her temples and infused the tips of her fingers with a bit of chakra. Sakura frowned. Why wasn't her head clearing? She pulled her hand from her head and looked down at her fingers. She could see it, the healing chakra coating her fingertips.
"What?" Tomura asked her, annoyed. "It's taking you longer than usual to burn the alcohol from your blood." He was being sarcastic and didn't notice the frown between her eyes.
Sakura continued to look down at her hands. It was there, her chakra but it wasn't working. She felt the fuzzy haze of the champagne leave her but the heavier pull of the, what had Kurogiri called it? Whiskey? It was weighing her down, making her feel off balance and...
"I need to get up." Sakura pushed half-heartedly for Tomura to move. "Something's not right." She needed to get out of there. She no longer felt comfortable, she was no longer sure of herself. This was dangerous.
"Yeah yeah, hold on geeze." Tomura moved across the bench so she could get out.
"I need to go home." Sakura sat at the end of the bench, willing herself to stand.
Tomura watched Sakura. Was she okay? "Hey, you alright? I was just joking with you."
"I'm fine." Sakura pushed herself to her feet, swayed, then stumbled forward into Tomura who caught her by her arms, all five fingers gripping her skin.
Both of their eyes went wide.
"I taped my finger as a precaution, at Master's advice because I like to drink and sometimes get careless with my quirk, but I didn't think I would have had to worry about…" He was pissed. What the hell was wrong with her taking such a risk like that, to pretend to fall so he would…
Tomura looked down at Sakura. She was still swaying on her feet, he was holding her up by the arms. If he let her go, she would fall. "You're drunk."
The monitor at the end of the bar turned on. The word 'Audio' blinked faintly across the screen.
"It appears whiskey has a very detrimental effect on our Sakura." All For One chuckled.
Tomura didn't move. He wasn't sure what to do. His hands were still holding Sakura up. He could feel the softness of her skin under his touch. They had come to a mutual understanding, a mutual forced pleasantry but friends, no he wouldn't say they were friends and she had never let him touch her like this before.
"She can't be drunk. I saw her burn the alcohol from her blood like always." Tomura protested.
"It appears whiskey does not burn away as easily as sake or champagne. Have a good night Tomura. Consider the consequences of your actions, before acting tonight." All For One advised his ward before ending their connection.
Tomura shifted Sakura's weight, scooped her up into his arms and turned toward the door of the bar. He understood his Master completely. If he took advantage of her, she would never forgive him, in fact, having gotten to know her better in the last month, she would probably try to kill him.
"Kurogiri, warp gate. I'm taking Sakura home." Tomura sighed. It was the right thing to do.
"Of course." Kurogiri set a warp gate just in front of the bar door and watched Tomura walk through the swirling mist, the first person since their Master to ever earn his respect in his arms.
"He's learning." Kurogiri picked the two shot glasses up off the table and set them in the sink. "What will you do with this knowledge, Tomura Shigaraki, what is it you desire now?"
Sakura woke with the worst headache she could ever remember having in her life.
"Ugh." She pressed her finger to the side of her head and relieved the pain. Instantly her head felt better, she sighed in relief. "That's better."
Yawning, she stretched her arms up over her head, rolled over out of her bed into her morning exercises. She had no idea how she had gotten home last night, the last thing she remembered was that she had stumbled and Shigaraki had caught her. Sakura counted out her sit ups one at a time. She remembered a warp gate, faintly. Had Kurogiri brought her home?
Finishing her set she looked around her small cave, nothing looked out of place, nothing was...her eyes snapped back to the log she used as a chair by her fire pit. There, pinned to the seat, was a note.
Sakura ripped the piece of paper from her log and read it quickly.
You call that security, those little pieces of paper were a joke. I dusted them, next time infuse them with your chakra.
"Tomura." Sakura crumpled the piece of paper up in her fist and sat down on her log. "Smug bastard."
Stretching backward on her log she snatched the kettle from the small shelf she had made out of wood, then walked to the river to fill it. Coming back to the fire pit she noticed a box, tucked under her shelf. It was black, tied together with a thin red ribbon. Stacking a few pieces of wood in her pit she lit it with a minor fire jutsu and set her kettle on the side near the lowest flames and waited for it to boil.
Looking back over to the box, she rolled her eyes and pulled it from under her shelf. "What could it be?" She hummed as she laid her hands over the top of the box and searched it with her chakra without opening it.
"Really?" Sakura ripped the top from the box and stared.
"Do you like them?" Tomura appeared at the mouth of her cave. Sakura leapt to her feet, one of her kunai in her hands when she realized who it was.
Dropping her hand to her side, she looked down at the fallen box. "You found some."
"Do you like them?" Tomura repeated himself impatiently. "They weren't easy to find, you know." He waited.
Sakura bent over, picked up the fallen weapons and carried them over to her bed, laying them out individually side by side for inspection. Tomura hovered behind her, waiting patiently.
"Where did you get them?" Sakura picked up one of the shuriken and examined the edge, the weight and then threw it, without chakra, into the side of her cave wall. "They're good."
The shuriken was stuck two inches in, half its surface area. They were durable, sharp, and just what she had been looking for.
"Good." Tomura turned and began to walk away, back toward the mouth of the cave. She was fine, she didn't need him anymore.
Sakura wasn't surprised he knew where she lived, was annoyed she hadn't thought to seal her seals with chakra so he couldn't dust them. She was used to shinobi breaking seals, using jutsu to displace them, but not quirks, she had been so stupid. She was surprised he was leaving so soon after taking care of her and giving her such useful gifts. Wasn't he going to ask her for something in return?
"You're leaving?" She pulled the shuriken from the cave wall and set it back in the box with the others.
"You want me to stay?" Tomura turned to face her, his hands in his pockets, save his pinky fingers.
"At least for a cup of coffee." Sakura moved to her fire. "Thanks for getting me home Tomura."
He shrugged. "I guess whiskey doesn't burn like other stuff." He sat down on her shelf by her fire, using it like a chair.
"Yeah weird." She still didn't understand that.
"So this is where you go when you're not at that kid's house or at my crummy bar huh?" Tomura looked around her cave. "It suits you."
Was that an insult or a compliment, she wasn't sure, but her kettle was boiling, so she lifted it from her fire, pulled two mugs from her tiny alcoves and poured their water for their coffee.
"I don't know how to make anything fancy, but it has caffeine in it." Sakura dumped a spoonful of loose grounds into each cup, then slipped a screen over each, handing Tomura his with a smile.
He knew she spent time with Shouto and his family, of course he did. She never spoke of it and Tomura never asked, but of course he knew. She'd be a fool to think he was ignorant of the company she kept. He knew about UA too, but refused to answer her questions about her paperwork and if his Master had anything to do with it.
It was an unspoken rule. Don't ask, don't tell. A rule he had just broken by mentioning Shouto.
"This tastes like shit." Tomura gagged. "Come on, let's get some real coffee."
"...but." Sakura protested. "I haven't changed my clothes or…"
"Fine." Tomura walked to the front of her cave. "Get dressed. Kurogiri will warp us to a place I know when you're ready." He left her alone.
This was her normal now she realized. She was constantly pulled back and forth between two strong willed, sometimes childish, quirk driven men. How had things gotten so complicated? All she wanted to do was go home and yet every day that passed, bound her more and more to this world.
Every experience made it harder and harder for her to remember why she was interacting with these men, why she was spending her time with them, why she had enrolled in high school when she was an adult.
Sakura pulled her clothes off quickly, threw on a T-shirt over her chest wraps, and pulled on a pair of jeans. Buckling her pouches around her waist, she pulled out her brush and began to brush her hair. It had grown since she had been here. She would need to cut it again, maybe before school started.
"Come on, I've been up all night watching over your pathetic ass, I want coffee." Tomura called out impatiently from beyond her cave mouth. "For fucks sake woman, how long does it take you to change clothes."
He was tapping his foot impatiently when she appeared before him. His arms were crossed over his chest, his head back as he looked up at the sky. "It's going to rain." He complained.
"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" Sakura clipped her growing hair back with two barrettes, one on either side of her face. "I've never met anyone who complained as much as you do about nothing at all."
"Yea yea kunoichi." Shigaraki punched in a few numbers on his phone. "Next time I'll leave you in the forest to choke on your puke alone huh?"
Kurogiri's warp gate opened up before them.
"You're buying me breakfast too." Sakura stepped into the void.
"I intended to." Tomura's mouth twitched as the gate closed behind him.