NeonHorizon: I have another sort of Dabi story called "Painkiller". So...I mean, it's got other guys, too. But...yeah.


Sayuri was extremely enthusiastic when it came to teaching. Even if it was sometimes a little bit draining. In her excitement for the afternoon tutoring session, she had planned a lot of activities and grabbed a lot of supplies. Too much, it would seem.

Kurono let her into the house and seemed a little confused by the amount of stuff she was carrying. She tried to shrug it off, but then Chisaki seemed equally puzzled when he saw the various bags she had with her. Setting a bag down on the floor, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and felt herself starting to blush from embarrassment.

"Well…I wasn't sure where to start with tutoring so I thought that I'd bring a few options. We never had the chance to talk about what you want me to focus on with teaching her. So I brought a few activities and I brought an afternoon snack activity, too," she tried to explain.

"What's a snack activity?" Kurono asked this with a completely straight face.

"It's a surprise." Seeing the way that Chisaki stared at the bags, she held up a hand. "I-I made sure to sanitize everything."

Sharp golden eyes lifted and fixed on her soft lilac gaze. It was difficult to be sure what sort of expression he was making due to black medical mask covering the lower half of his face. He tugged at his gloves, pulling them up a little more, and gave her an approving nod.

"You really take your job seriously. I can respect that. Clearly, this is something you're passionate about." Chisaki approached her, finally breaking his intense stare to peer down into one of her bags. "I'm interested to see what you have planned. Of course, I'll be sitting in on your session today. You understand, don't you?"

She took a step back from him and attempted a small, polite smile. However, it was difficult when he was standing so close to her. The man's aura was intimidating, his stare making her a little uneasy. It was as if he was trying to stare into her soul and judge her worth. She had never met someone quite like him.

"Of course. Honestly…it's admirable. I've tutored kids a little in the past and you wouldn't believe how many parents don't even check on their progress."

He tilted his head slightly, staring down at Sayuri. The fabric of his mask shifted a little near his nose, as if it was wrinkling or twitching behind the dark cloth. His features settled into a calm expression, almost as if he was pleased. "Kurono, get Eri from her room."

Don't leave me alone with him. Sayuri watched the other man walk off down the hallway and felt her heart sink a little. "So where will we be-?"

"How are your injuries? The last time you visited, you took Eri's cuts."

"Oh…I'm fine. It was no problem."

"Show me." Chisaki's eyes were locked onto hers again, with such intensity that it made her drop her gaze seconds later.

Sayuri hesitantly pushed up her sleeve and revealed the scar. It had finished healing, but it was still a little red. "See? It's fine."

"You have an interesting…ability. How long does it take for you to heal?" He leaned in a little, once again getting just a bit too close. Examining her scar and slowly inching a gloved hand toward her arm.

She stepped back from him as Kurono returned with Eri. "Hello, Eri-chan! Are you ready for your first tutoring session?"

The little girl seemed a bit confused as she locked eyes with Sayuri. She frowned curiously, staring up at the teacher for a moment before looking toward Chisaki. When he nodded, she rushed forward and held tightly to her arm. "I-I missed you!"

Sayuri felt like her heart was melting as she looked down at her. She's so sweet! I'll help her learn enough to catch up to the other kids around her age so she can go to school someday. I have to do everything I can.

Crouching down to be at eye level with her, she smiled. "Are you hungry, Eri-chan? I brought a snack that we can make together."

"A…snack?" Eri gave her a puzzled look, tilting her head.

"Yep! It's going to be fun." Sayuri took her hand and looked toward Chisaki. "Do you have a kitchen we can use?"

It was a weird kitchen. Well-stocked, but with more food than she would have imagined a father, child, and father's friend would need. It was also extremely clean. Not in a normal way, but in a sterile sort of way.

Okay, I need a knife for me to use and a spoon for Eri. She found these items and set them down near the bag of snacks she brought, but paused when she saw Eri struggling to peer at what was on the countertop. The girl was just a little too short. In addition to this, Eri's long, wavy hair was hanging in wild tangles around her face.

Turning toward the doorway, where Chisaki and Kurono were currently lingering, she requested a step-stool for Eri. Kurono was sent to find one and she turned back to the little girl. "Is it okay if I pull your hair back for you? That way it won't get in your eyes while we're working."

The child stared up at her with wide, shining red eyes. "O-okay."

Sayuri gently ran her fingers through the kid's hair, working through the tangles. As she was pulling it back into a ponytail, she felt a pang of sadness. She was reminded of when she was Eri's age. Back when her mother treated her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Her mother would spend a long time brushing the tangles out of her hair and putting it into cute hairstyles. They would cook together or her mother would read to her.

She had not spoken to her mother since her last year of high school. From the day she chose not to apply to UA, her mother and father had begun to distance themselves from her. They spoke to her less and less. Any interaction she had with them was rather cold and impersonal. It no longer felt like she was their daughter. As if any connection they had to her was broken when she chose to follow her own dream.

Of course, what really caused the initial distance was when they chose to cater to Endeavor's demands rather than protect her. Sayuri's trust in them had broken when they forced her to heal his son. When they showed complete apathy in regards to her pain. When they said she should be honored to be asked to heal Shouto.

Sayuri brought out the bag of apples she had picked up at the store on the way there and sliced them as Eri watched. She demonstrated how to make an apple bunny, like the cute ones that were often in bento boxes. This was a simple snack activity that was pretty popular with her students and Eri seemed genuinely amazed when she saw the first completed bunny.

She made the first little cuts on another slice and handed it over to the girl so Eri could use a spoon to peel back the skin to make her own bunny. As she watched, Sayuri looked back on a fond, very old, memory. Visiting the Todoroki house to hang out with Fuyumi. Making apple bunnies with her friend and presenting them to Fuyumi's brothers. She remembered that Natsuo had said they looked too girly, but Touya had taken one and smiled. What happened to Touya? I can't remember.

Shift P.O.V

"Ugh." Dabi looked down at the front of his clothes and grimaced. The weather had been warmer than usual. Sunny. Cloudless. No wind whatsoever. So he got cocky and got just a little too close to the burning corpses of his opponents. When the wind abruptly picked up, he was struck full on by a cloud of human ashes.

The layer of ash was too thick for him to be able to just brush it off. Sayuri would be able to smell it on him when he got home. That clinging scent of cooked meat and burnt hair. She never actually questioned it, but he was sure she had no idea what the smell really was. If she knew he was a murderer, her pure little heart would break apart.

At best, she might complain about the smell and say he smelled like death if he came home like this. Not that he would be disappointed; he actually thought her naiveté was pretty cute. She would scrunch up her nose and frown. She might try to tease him like she had the night before.

Dabi sauntered back to the apartment, thinking about how to handle it when she inevitably got upset about the smell of burned bodies that was clinging to him. I know how to distract her, he finally told himself. A smirk tugged at his lips and he licked at his burned lower lip, flicking at the staples near the corner.

It was past the time when she would be home, but he had wanted to take his time while he was out that day. After spending a majority of the previous day vomiting, he was determined to have some fun. Now, as he let himself into the apartment, he anticipated having some fun with Sayuri.

His smirk dropped as he found that she was not home. There was a note on the counter that had been written hastily; explaining that she had gone out and would be back later. Also that there was a box of takeout in the fridge.

He was disappointed, but at the same time a little glad for the extra time. Stripping off his ash-covered clothes, he shoved them into the washing machine and rinsed the ashes from his hair in the bathroom sink. Dabi put on some clean clothes and settled on the couch with his takeout to try to decide what to do now.

There was only one place she could have gone. After all, Sayuri only had one friend now. The Todoroki house. Dabi's eyes narrowed as he finished his meal and dropped the empty container on the coffee table. She keeps going back there. If she's that much of a masochist…His smirk returned and he ran his fingers through his still slightly wet hair.

As he left the apartment again, Dabi was thinking about Sayuri. He was thinking about all of the ways he could tease her. All of the fun things he could do once she was home. Although, if he wanted to be truly malicious, he knew he could just call her. She would be flustered and try to explain herself to Fuyumi while he described to her all of the things he had planned.

An evil grin spread across his face and the closer he got to his destination, the more he thought that this was a great idea. If nothing else, it would make her come back sooner. He pulled his phone from his pocket and brought up a picture he had snapped of her just a few days ago.

She had just come out of the bathroom and her long, snow-white hair was still hanging loose in semi-wet waves. Wearing one of his shirts and a pair of shorts. The shirt was a little too big and hung loose, dipping low on the chest and showing her collar bones. She was blushing bright pink in the picture so the image perfectly captured Sayuri's innocent nature.

Dabi was soon standing around the corner from his destination, tucked away in an alley. He leaned against a wall and examined the image again before finally going to her number. It started to ring and he could not wait for her to come hurrying out of the Todoroki house, just around the corner. Blushing red and perfectly flustered.

It rang three times before being sent to voicemail. Dabi's grin fell to a grimace and he stared down at his phone screen. Not about to leave a message, he tried again and found that her phone had now been turned off; he was sent straight to voicemail. Seriously? Well…I guess I'll just have to teach you a lesson. I might've gone easy on you tonight, but now there's no way.

Shift P.O.V

Eri never seemed to actually smile. It was both sad and perplexing. Most of the children in Sayuri's class smiled almost constantly. They were always laughing and full of energy. Eri seemed sort of drained, but she was doing her best when it came to the lessons.

Sitting together at a table that Kurono set up in the kitchen, Sayuri watched as the little girl worked on a color by numbers page in one of the workbooks she had brought. It was astonishing that Chisaki had never taught her numbers, but she seemed to pick things up pretty quickly. She even colored inside the lines better than most of the kids in Sayuri's class.

"You're doing really well," the young woman assured her when she looked worried. "It's tough to learn at first, right? You're working really hard, though. As long as you practice, you'll get better at it. It's kind of like with quirks."

Footsteps approached the table and Chisaki stood beside Sayuri's chair, leaning down to examine Eri's work. "Eri. You need to stay inside of the lines. You're making a mess."

"I-I'm sorry." The child's voice was a small squeak as she paused in coloring.

"No, it's okay. It's like I said; it takes time to get really good at something." Sayuri felt her chair shift forward just a tiny amount as a gloved hand gripped the back of her seat, his knuckles just barely touching the back of her shoulder.

"She needs to strive to improve quickly," he argued. "I thought your goal was to get her caught up to her peers. Or maybe I misunderstood."

Sayuri turned her head to argue and found the man watching her with such intensity that she quickly looked away. "You…need to be patient with kids. They're sensitive."

"You're not a parent. I only want her to do the best that she can and I know she can do better than this. Don't you want what I want?"

"Of course." She shivered, feeling gloved fingers grip her shoulder.