Chapter 10

A long yawn racked through Kaiya's body as the dewy morning airflow around her stuck on her skin. Kaiya felt rough this morning to say the least. Her sleep had been distrubed by searing pain in her thigh since the morphine wore off and nightmares of her foster father. She hadn't had nightmares in years but her consistent use of fire and admitting her past must have triggered the deeply buried memory. She was stretching her legs out when she heard Todoroki approach.

"Good morning Kaiya, are you okay?" Todoroki asked her as he ran up to her. He had barely made it on time when Kaiya looked up at him.

"I've been better." She yawned again. "I can already tell today is going to suck." She groaned, rubbing her weary eyes.

"What makes you say that?" Todoroki asked, stretching his arms in preparation.

The girl looked up at her friend incredulously and spoke. "We took on a murderer...without telling our supervising teacher, ended up in the hospital, got a lecture from the police chief who also said he was reprimanding our superiors. Your father isn't gracious on his best day; do you really think he'll be forgiving today?" Kaiya explained, seeing Todoroki pale with each explanation.

"Oh." He mumbled, hearing his father before seeing him. "This isn't going to be good."

Kaiya had been right. Endeavour roared angry spouts about the fact the pair ran away and fought Stain without consulting him; then he got reprimanded for their behavior. Even so, he still got the glory for taking down Stain, he was furious at his trainees. Between the roars, the teens sprinted and ran for their warm up, dodging the flame attacks from the hero. Kaiya's legs had never known this much strain in a warm up before; but she powered through despite her screaming wounds. Her injured thigh was on fire, but she was terrified of the flame attacks so she kept her mouth shut.

"If it hurts, good! Should teach you a lesson on running away to fight a murderer. Keep going!" Endeavour roared, seeing the two teens sprint by him, dodging the balls of flame. Once he was satisfied and could see the teens reach exhaustion, he relented his flames. "Shoto, you're with me. Kaiya, practice switching between elements. I'll check on you soon" He instructed roughly.

It had been two hours into the training when Endeavour lost his patience with Kaiya. "Faster Ayumi! You have got to be faster at changing the elements. You are only using one hand and one element at a time." Endeavour roared as Kaiya clenched her teeth in aggravation.

"I can't use both." She growled before Endeavor approached her again.

"Because you have trained yourself to think one side is stronger than the other. We need to fix that." Kaiya aimed another blast of water at the dummy weight in front of her and then tried to move the earth under it with her left hand but it wasn't strong enough to move anything but shake slightly. She could see Todoroki was off to the side practicing switching his ice and fire too; his eyes darting over to her every now and again. He knew that she was getting frustrated but he couldn't argue with his father.

Kaiya bit her tongue in frustration and pulled the earth from under herself instead of the dummy in front of her and fell to the ground, causing her thigh stitches to come undone. She felt her body shake in frustration as she felt Endeavour take a second before he pulled her to her feet. Tears threatened to pool but Kaiya refused to show that she was upset with herself. "I'll get it right sir." She managed to say through her teeth. "I'm sorry."

"Use everything you are feeling to concentrate. Ignoring your pain, anger, and your fear will only hold you back. I am not going to sugar coat anything with you; it won't help. You will not be strong or close to being the best if you keep getting praised." Endeavour growled, pointing at the dummy in front of her. "Again. Use your fire this time. Find a way to channel the power; it may not be in your hands."

She stared at her palms in front of her and noticed the cuts and bruises already forming on them when an idea struck her. Kaiya turned to the dummy and shot fists full of fire at it and then controlled the earth under her feet with her mind instead of her hand. Endeavour cracked a smile and glanced at Todoroki who looked pleased too. "Cleverly done. Instead of using your hands, you can use your mind. It may take more of a toll on you, but it is useful. It's a sneak attack of sorts"

Kaiya smirked at the result and continued switching through the elements between the targets in front of her. However, each time the fire coursed out of her, memories of her foster father screaming at her bellowed in her ears. She tried focusing on the other elements more but the voice was getting too loud to cancel out. "You are a monster. You hurt people. This is why they left you!" Kaiya growled as she shot a large fireball at the smallest target as her eyes turned red.

"Kaiya?" Todoroki asked from his training spot. Endeavour followed his son's focus and found Kaiya's body covered in a controlled flame.

"Oh my god." He gasped, seeing the angry force fly around the girl, her eyes ablaze as they focused on the burning target. "She is replaying something in her mind."

"He's in her head." Todoroki told him, amazed by the sheer heat coming off of Kaiya. "She has so much control...I didn't realize." Todoroki made a move towards Kaiya but his father blocked his way.

"Hold on, she needs to do this." He pointed out as Todoroki clicked his teeth but kept a close eye on the girl. "She needs to feel her power. She needs to feel this control."

"She could hurt herself." Todoroki pointed out against Endeavour's block. The wind began picking up around them and water underneath her pooled as the earth shook. "She's using all of the elements…at once?"

"A monster...I'm not a monster…" Kaiya mumbled through the whirlwind of elements around her. A smirk formed on her face as she looked up and locked eyes with Todoroki. "They were wrong. I'm not a monster." Her red eyes shot through the flames to Todorki and his father as the flames got stronger around her.

Too many forces were active and Endeavour realized the situation could turn dire soon. "Ayumi, stop this. Calm down." Endeavour instructed, seeing the array of elements come out of her.

"I think she does actually have control. She's just angry." Todoroki mused, seeing a small tear escape her eye as she stretched her palms out. "She is insanely powerful. She can handle it."

"They didn't want me...because they were afraid of me." The two Todoroki men froze at Kaiya's voice and looked at the intensity of her fiery eyes.

"Her eyes are red." Endeavour stated in shock. "Weren't they green?"

"When she's angry or scared, I notice they turn red…" Todoroki told him, admiring the power Kaiya was wielding.

"Did this scare them? If they saw me now, would they be happy? Proud? Or scared like you both are now?" Kaiya was shaking with anger as tears streamed down her face. "You told me to stop ignoring how I feel about everything Endeavor. I'm tired of being afraid of my power; these elements make me who I am; someone they didn't want. I'll show them that they made a mistake doubting me!" Kaiya screamed as the fire and wind grew stronger but before Todoroki or Endeavor could intervene, Kaiya stopped the elements in an instant. She stood in the remnants of flooded grass and smoke scented air, catching her ragged breath.

"Kaiya?" Todoroki asked as the dust settled.

Tense moments passed as the Todoroki men gazed at the girl in front of them before her voice sounded. "Thank you Endeavor. I don't feel fear anymore; I am powerful and I shouldn't hide from that." She stated simply; her eyes dimmed back to green. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She retreated into the house to compose herself.

"I never thought she would have that much power." Endeavor admitted to Todoroki. "She only uses two elements at school?"

"Earth and wind." He answered quietly, still replaying the sheer power of his friend he just witnessed.

"Water and fire can be deadly; it makes sense why she doesn't use them often. Maybe now she will; seeing what she can do."

"I don't know what drives her. It's not to be the best, to carry on the family name..." Todoroki mused, trying to figure out how Kaiya's mind worked.

"Maybe it's to prove she can be someone, despite what she's gone through." Endeavour asked his son as he took a moment to think before answering. "To prove something to her parents"

"That would mean she has resentment inside; I don't think she does as much anymore. I think she's trying to prove more to herself that she's not dangerous when using fire. Last time she used it, she hurt someone and herself, so she has a kind of PTSD." Todoroki guessed, debating for a moment to continue. "But you triggered something in her when pushing her to feel; or maybe she finally is allowing herself to not be scared anymore. Either way, she's insanely powerful and when we get back to school, people will notice."

Meanwhile,Kaiya caught her breath inside, her palms aching with what she just did. "I can't believe I can do all that. I just...let everything go." She whispered.

"That was amazing." A kind voice sounded as Kaiya's eyes shot up to see a young woman with red and white hair stand in the doorway.

"Hi...thank you." Kaiya stumbled, bowing at her elder.

"My name is Fuyumi...I'm Shoto's sister. I'm just here to drop off some food for you all." She smiled, setting down containers of food. She looked at Kaiya and took in the atmosphere around her and smiled. "You let go and allowed your true powers to shine. Remind you of anyone?" She asked, arching her eyebrow to Todoroki who was sparring with his father. "You got him to let go."

"I'm a hypocrite." Kaiya whispered, remembering the sports festival vividly in her mind. "I was telling him to do something I couldn't bring myself to do." Fuyumi placed a cold hand on her shoulder that sent a chill through Kaiya as she looked up to her. "He shouldn't be listening to me for advice."

"You still made it happen. He's better for it; our family is better for it. Thank you for that." Kaiya had no words as Fuyumi pulled her in for a tight hug. "Your power is beautiful...not scary. I've seen scary so you can trust me on that." Her dark words stung into Kaiya's heart as Fuyumi pulled away. "Get stronger and you'll see what more you can do. That confidence will come."

Kaiya searched Fuyumi's eyes for a sense of deceit but only found honesty in them when she croaked out a response. "Thank you. I should get back to them. Thank you for the food." Fuyumi nodded and watched as the girl rejoined her father and brother to train.

"She's top five...for sure." Fuyumi smiled.

A few hours later, Todoroki and Kaiya's training was coming to a close and both of the teens were worn out. "How are you feeling?" Todoroki asked Kaiya as she wiped sweat off her forehead.

"Great actually. Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." She smiled, sipping on her water. "The night after showing you where I lived, I decided I'm done hiding. I'm going to tell people if they ask about my life. I'm done suppressing these memories and these feelings. I'm only holding myself back."

"Is that where all that power from earlier came from?" Todoroki dared to ask. She nodded slowly at the boy and her eyes were bright when she spoke again.

"Your father is tough but this is the best training I am going to get and I should learn all I can. When I felt the fire...I heard my foster father in my head and I got angry. Then I destroyed the target and I wasn't scared anymore. It was almost as if all I had buried just exploded into my palms and was freed. It was….exhilarating." Todoroki smirked at her enthusiasm and picked up his towel to wipe his face off.

"I'm proud of you. And so impressed by that raw power. You were…." Todoroki paused as he saw Kaiya's pleading eyes burn into his. "Strong. So strong." She giggled and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. A tingling sensation was left as her lips pulled away.

"Thanks Todoroki, for everything. I'll see you later, I desperately need a shower." She smiled and ran out of the training ground. Todoroki was left there frozen in his spot, his cheeks burning.

"Strong huh? I have a feeling that wasn't the word you wanted to say." Fuyumi piped up from behind him. Todoroki glared at his sister over his shoulder, ignoring the comment. "She's a pretty girl. We talked earlier…" Fuyumi teased before Todoroki froze.

"You what? Wait!" He called after her as she ran out of the room giggling.