What do we do now? We can't go back to the apartment. I can't go to Fuyumi's house. I don't…have any family nearby and even if I did, I wouldn't want to put anyone else in danger. But Chisaki knew where I lived! He knew so much more than he let me believe at first! What am I supposed to do now?! Do we flee the country? But how are we going to afford that?
Dabi felt Sayuri trembling and looked down at her. Still holding Eri on his hip. Still bleeding from the seams between his scarred, burned skin and his unmarred flesh. Missing a staple from the corner of his mouth. Despite doing so much damage to himself and looking exhausted, he still picked up on Sayuri's worries and pulled her closer against his side.
"What're you thinking?" he muttered, keeping his voice down.
She ran her fingers through her hair and a small, panicked laugh escaped her before she covered her mouth and shook her head. "I don't…know what to do now," she confessed. "What are we supposed to do? He knows where we live, Dabi. And I don't have any family that I can turn to. What are we supposed to do? I didn't think this through! I wanted to save Eri, but now-!"
He lifted a hand and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. Blood oozing from his seams, turquoise eyes half-lidded. "Settle down. I'll think of something."
"But-!"
"Said to quiet down," he growled. Leaning down, he covered her lips with his and shifted his hand to run through her hair. When he broke away, he smirked. "We'll figure out something. For starters, you're both gonna need new clothes, right? I'll find a place for you to hide while I grab some supplies."
"O-okay." Sayuri glanced from him to the little girl. They had been running for quite a while and Eri had dozed off with her head resting against his shoulder. Still wearing his jacket. The sight made Sayuri's lips twitch into a half smile and she released a sigh of relief.
"Thank you for saving Eri, too," she whispered. Her hand held onto his and she gave him a full, but tired, smile when he looked down again.
"Yeah, well. Figured you'd want me to get both of you." His smirk faded and he adjusted his hold on the child when he felt her slipping. "Seriously not crazy about raising some other guy's kid, but you wanted her, right?"
Sayuri's pulse skipped when she heard him talk about raising Eri and her smile grew a little. "Yeah. Hey, you know…even if she's not ours, I bet we'd be better parents than mine were."
"Wouldn't be hard to be better than my parents," he agreed.
It was the first time she could remember him ever mentioning his parents. Tilting her head, she looked up at him through the dimness of the alley. "Your parents were pretty bad?"
"My old man was a monster. And my mom…didn't do shit to protect me from him. I still can't believe he didn't kill any of us." Dabi's tone got darker. His head lowered a little as he glared down at the ground. The hand holding Sayuri's tightened and he licked at the blood collecting at the corner of his mouth. "That bastard…really fucked up a lot of people's lives."
They kept walking for a while, falling into silence. Sayuri glanced over at Dabi every so often, wondering if he would say anything else about his family. His dad really sounds like an asshole, she thought as she gave his hand a small squeeze.
"Here we go. This should work for right now." Dabi helped her through the broken first floor window of a building that looked vacant. He handed Eri to her through the window and then climbed in to join them. Eri was settled onto Sayuri's back and then he took her hand again as they searched for a good hiding place.
Finding an old storage room, full of dusty furniture and boxes, Dabi helped them settle into the corner furthest from the door. He crouched down and wrapped an old blanket around them both, frowning and wiping at the blood on his face with the back of his hand. "I'm gonna be back soon. Any requests?"
"Can you get a first aid kit and some water?" Sayuri wrapped an arm around Eri as the little girl blinked sleepily. I want to treat his wounds before they get infected, but I don't know if I can take them myself. I'll have to see what I can do to help him, though.
"Yeah. Kid? You want anything?" Dabi looked down at Eri, who stared up at him through a groggy haze. When she just tilted her head, he reached down and ruffled her hair. "I'll get you something. Both of you just stay quiet and don't leave this room, got it?"
"This…room?" Eri seemed to slowly remember what had happened and her eyes widened. She clung to Sayuri and looked past Dabi at the open doorway. "Sayuri, y-you have to…take me back. I don't want you to get hurt."
"I'm not letting you go back there," she argued.
"Same. Don't make trouble, kid. Sayuri's gonna take care of you whether you like or not; I know from experience. Better to let her just do it instead of making her worry. Anyway, I'll be back soon."
Sayuri held onto the child as Dabi left and tried to help her calm down. "Everything's going to be okay, Eri-chan. I promise. I won't let Chisaki-san or Kurono-san hurt you again. We're going to be okay."
"I…I don't want anything to happen to you. And it's my fault he got hurt."
"Eri, look at me." Sayuri smoothed the girl's pale, wavy hair away from her face and tried to smile. "Dabi…is stubborn when he wants to be. He wouldn't have pushed himself like that if he didn't want to. He knew what overusing his quirk would do, but he did it anyway because he wanted to. So don't worry and don't feel like it's your fault. Besides, I'm going to patch him up when he gets back."
"Patch…? You're not going to heal him…like when you heal me?"
"Dabi's injuries are different." She frowned a little and tipped her head back to lean it against the wall. When an idea popped into her head, she found her smile again. "Take a nap, okay? Maybe when he comes back, I can show you how to patch someone up without using a quirk. How does that sound?"
Shift P.O.V
Unlike Sayuri, this was not the first time Dabi was on the run from someone. Not even the first time he had been in a situation where leaving the country might be his best option. He knew what he was doing and he knew that he had to take charge if the three of them wanted to have any hope of surviving this.
He wiped some blood from under his eye and grimaced at the shining, crimson liquid that smeared across the back of his hand. First on his list was the first aid kit and some provisions. He got weird looks from the clerk in the convenience store, but ignored them.
Even if Sayuri's pale-haired stalker found him, he had zero intention of telling the guy where Sayuri and the little girl were hiding. My own dad was trash. I'm not gonna go down that same path, he told himself. This was just another chance to show himself and the world that he was better than his father.
Gathering disguises came next. Sayuri and the kid were wearing nightgowns so Dabi had to get them some clothes that would help them blend in better. He managed to find a few items. They were less than ideal, but at least it would help them become inconspicuous.
As he walked back toward the old building, staying in the shadows and remaining hyper aware of his surroundings, a thought crossed his mind. Something irritating, but useful. If he left them at the Todoroki house, they would be safer than if they were on the run. How Endeavor would react, he had no idea, but he knew Fuyumi would help. She had always been annoyingly helpful. Even when they were kids.
It would be for the best if he took them to the Todoroki house. Fuyumi could help Sayuri take care of the little girl and keep them both hidden until it was safe for them to go outside again. They would be safe and Fuyumi would make sure they got everything they needed. It was the best thing he could for them, if he really wanted them to be safe.
However, Dabi was selfish. He could admit that to himself and he tried to justify it. Without Sayuri, he had nothing. No one. If he left her and the child at the Todoroki house, then he would be alone again. He would be free to do whatever he wanted; burn as many people as he wanted and not worry about someone complaining he was covered in ashes and smelled like smoke. But he would be alone.
I already lost her once. I'm not gonna just let her go again, he decided. Besides. She wouldn't last a day staying in that house. Not when he's there. She'd be begging me to come back for her. Keeping her close to me, I'm doing her a favor.
He found Sayuri curled up in the corner with the little girl; just like he had left her. He quietly trudged across the dimly-lit room. Dabi crouched down and reached out to tuck a lock of snow-pale hair behind her ear. She opened her eyes and offered him a half-smile, which he smirked at. "Miss me, babe?"
She pushed herself closer and brought her lips to his. When Sayuri tried to lean back again, she found his fingers threading into her hair and holding her close against him. She lifted a hand and gently caress his cheek, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled it away before she could use her quirk on him. The young woman pouted when he broke the kiss. "Let me take those from you," she tried to demand.
"No way. I saw the scars on your arms. You're not gonna take these, too. Give me the kid. I brought a first aid kit so you can patch me up." Dabi accepted the sleeping child from her and settled the kid against his side to keep her warm.
Sayuri knelt in front of him and tore open a pack of alcohol wipes to clean the splits in his seams. Working carefully and glancing to his eyes every so often to see if he was in pain. She leaned in closer to examine where one of his staples had come free from the corner of his mouth and hissed in sympathy. "Can you feel any of this? You know, a lot of people would've passed out from their skin splitting open."
"Do I look like most people?" he taunted. "I had other stuff on my mind so I didn't even notice when the seams split." There was no way he was going to let her know that it hurt. That the bleeding seams stung in the chilled spring night air.
Not able to keep looking at that worried expression on Sayuri's face, he looked down at the child curled up against his side. "Crazy," he muttered under his breath.
"What's crazy?" Sayuri was opening a pack of adhesive bandages and paused to look at the two, puzzled.
Dabi smirked; glad to have distracted her from fussing over his injuries. "This kid. She looks like this girl my sister brought to the house all the time when I lived at home." He saw Sayuri tilt her head a little. "This little crybaby with white hair. Always covered in scrapes and bruises."
Lilac eyes widened as his words sank in. Sayuri's hands started to tremble. "Oh? Really? That's…pretty weird," she commented. "Sounds kind of needy. I mean, if she cried all the time." She started to put the bandages on, but she was avoiding his eyes now. Biting her lip and flushing pink in the cheeks.
"Yeah, kinda." He let her finish bandaging him and stretched a little before he settled against the wall. Eyes half-lidded as he lifted them to meet hers directly. A playful sort grin tugging at the corner of his lips. "I remember one time when she wouldn't stop crying. Nobody knew what to do so when my sister went to get help, I ended up holding her and trying to get her to stop."
"Oh? Really?" Sayuri's voice broke a little and she attempted to smile, but it was weak. "Heh. She just really sounds like she was a lot of trouble for you, then."
"Yeah. I've got…pretty bad taste in girls, I guess. That crybaby was my first crush and she probably grew up to still be a crybaby that takes other people's injuries for them. Bet she still gets pushed around, too." Dabi's eyes widened a little when Sayuri threw her arms around his neck, but soon he was smirking and wrapping his free arm around her.
"You…ngh! What the hell?! This whole time? Why didn't you…say something? Why didn't you tell me? I didn't know what happened and now…now you're telling me and I don't even know-!" Sayuri was quieted by his mouth meeting hers and she leaned into the kiss.
Dabi leaned back against the wall after breaking contact and saw tears running down her face, but she was smiling. Different from how she usually smiled; this was a shy, sort of sheepish smile accompanied by a blush. "What's the matter?" he taunted. "At least you know now, right?"
"You're…so stupid." She shook her head and settled onto the floor on his other side. Putting his arm around her shoulders as her smile evolved into a grin. "Touya. You let me just pour my heart out about my first love and embarrass myself like that." Sayuri snorted and shook her head again. "And this timing is ridiculous. We could've died today."
"Don't call me that. I haven't gone by that name since I left home," he protested. "It's Dabi. And I don't wanna kill the mood, but we still have to figure some stuff out before we can act like it's all safe."
