Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger & Bunny in any way, shape, or form. I just like to play with the characters.
Summary: Kotetsu and Kaede have different ideas about how she should work on her power [Future Fic]
Author's Note: A shorter piece to add to the pile, but it was fun to write about a teenage Kaede :)
"You can't just tell me to stop!"
"Kaede, I'm your father-"
"And you have no idea what you're doing! Or what you're asking me to do!"
The door to the front of the apartment opened with its telltale squeak, then slammed shut. Barnaby starting to turn off the burner, putting the knife in his hand down on the cutting board when a thud came from the entrance way. He poked his head out of the kitchen just in time to see Kaede throw her other shoe at the wall space near the umbrella stand.
"Kaede? Are you okay? What's all this about?"
She didn't answer him, turning instead to face the door with her shoulders high and hands clenched.
The door opened again, unaccompanied by slamming as Kotetsu took the time to shut it gently behind him. "You have no right getting angry at me, I'm just worried about you-"
"I didn't ask you to! And if I'm feeling angry THEN I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY!"
Barnaby picked up a wine glass and poured one of his sweet white wines into it. Lesson number one had been learned a long time ago; don't get in the middle of a tiger fight. He sipped, keeping quiet as he heard the two go at each other in the entrance way.
"I AM handling my power the BEST I can, and then YOU tell me that I'm not doing it correctly! It's not YOUR power you have NO idea!"
Kotetsu firmly placed his shoes onto the rack.
"It's dangerous for you to keep borrowing others' powers Kaede. Someone bad is going to find out that you can wield whatever you touch and take advantage of you!"
"But I can't!" she snapped right back. "And that's the problem! I don't magically take a power and use it as if I'd always have it. Remember when we first thought I had control over metal?"
Barnaby looked out the kitchen archway to see Kotetsu paused, cocking his head as he tried to remember when that had happened. Kaede waited, her foot tapping the floor until he finally shook his head.
"Oh yeah, that's right." She snapped her fingers. "You weren't there to see every. Single. Metal. Thing. in the kitchen attracted to me. Watching a pot and pan whizzing out to hit you from the soapy sink is scarier than you think."
"I'm worried-"
"Want to hear what I'm worried about?" She began to tick off her fingers. "Not being able to help people, hurting myself, hurting the people around me, never being-"
"Sweetie, you don't have to worry about me an' Barnaby, we'll be fine."
"NOT THE POINT!" she yelled, breathing heavily and tugging on her hair. Barnaby had to stifled a giggle. As angry as she was at her father right now, she was definitely still her father's daughter.
"Yeah, for one minute, and then a newfound power involving steak knives would shish kebab you!" Kaede let out a muted scream. "Dad, I can't deal with this, I can't fucking DEAL with you! You have NO idea what it's like and now you're asking me to give up what little control over it I have. I'm going to my room! DON'T bother coming up to talk to me since I sure as HELL don't want to talk to you right now!" Kaede stomped off, but not before Barnaby saw her swiping at her eyes.
"Kaede-"
"Leave me alone!" She ran up the rest of the steps, pounding out her frustrations.
"Kotetsu," Barnaby said slowly, addressing the only person left in the room. "What was that all about?"
The older man let out a large sigh, then flumped onto the couch.
"We met her teacher in the park," he said, letting his head flop back. "From Hero Academy. Asked Kaede how she was doing and what power she was working on next."
"'Next'?"
There was a confirming groan.
"Kaede's apparently been borrowing her classmates' powers and practicing. Not just one or two, but all of them."
"Hmm." Barnaby thought about it for a few seconds, having the powers of Fire Emblem or Sky High in the hands of a novice. "That sounds a little dangerous."
"That's what I said!" snapped Kotetsu, throwing up his hands. "I told her she should work on gaining new powers one by one. Start with the easiest, or most useful." He snorted. "No, she wants to borrow a person's power, then put on a t-shirt that says 'don't touch me or feel my wrath'."
"And that let's her keep the power for the day." Barnaby nodded. "Other than it being a little dangerous, like with any Next who has new powers, why don't you want her doing it?"
"You know how long it took us to get used to our strength." Kotetsu smiled at Barnaby. "Or maybe not, I forget sometimes that you've always had your powers."
"Trust me, I broke many things when I was younger." Barnaby came out to perch on the side of the couch. "I remember."
"... I remember too," said Kotetsu, groaning. "And when I do, I really have to thank whatever gods are out there that Antonio has such thick skin; I don't think he would have survived our first fights otherwise. Keith took years to control his flying, and Ivan uses such fine precision with his shape-changing abilities that he put himself off believing that he could do it for years. She's not going to learn enough to keep anyone, including herself, safe if she gets a different power every day. One or two powers, powers that she can learn how to handle well, that's all she needs."
Barnaby didn't give an answer, choosing instead to take another sip of wine.
"She seems to be taking care of it pretty well on her own."
"She needs to settle with one," grumbled Kotetsu, repeating his thoughts. "And learn how to use that one before she should move onto another."
"...you're right, that's one way." The blond stepped over the man's stretched out legs and sat down on the opposite end of the couch. "The other way is what she's doing, and I think that might actually be better for her."
Kotetsu's jaw dropped.
"How? She's flipping through powers like, like... like a pack of cards! And if she thinks she's going to build a house with it, it'll just come crumbling down"
Barnaby chuckled, taking off his glasses and polishing them with the bottom of Kotetsu's shirt.
"True, I might agree with you a bit and think she's going a little faster than she needs to, but Kotetsu, do you know how many people she brushes up against every day?
"No."
"Do you even know how many students go to her school? How many are in her class?"
Kotetsu snorted.
"I know she's got about thirty other kids in her homeroom."
"Okay, let's say thirty kids," said Barnaby. "In your hometown, when you were growing up, how many do you think had NEXT powers?"
"Two or three?" He shrugged. "It wasn't a good thing to be NEXT then, so we mostly kept it to ourselves. There was another kid who transferred when his power went off in class, but other than that it was secret."
"And keeping to yourself might have been the best option back then, but now... now she's in a class where everyone has something unique about them." Barnaby shook his head. "I wish you could have gone there too, and just felt the boost in confidence that you weren't some... abnormality. That there were others like you, and you weren't alone."
Kotetsu rubbed his hand on his partner's leg.
"Kaede's getting that emotional boost, and she's being as safe as she can by learning as much as she can. It didn't matter if she brushed up against a classmate back in her elementary school; most were ordinary people. Now though, if she touches any of her classmates here, then she'll suddenly have a new power. I'm sure she'll settle down in the future by picking one or two to dive into and focus on, but for now she's just trying to survive... and let her classmates survive too."
Kotetsu cocked his head.
"Think about it. What would happen if there was a fire user in the class? An ice user? Electricity? Super strength? All it would take is one little touch to start an accident, and someone would end up in the hospital."
"... I didn't think of it like that," Kotetsu admitted, rubbing his face with his hands. "It is survival, isn't it?"
Barnaby nodded, beginning to untie the apron he was wearing.
"Keep an eye on the tuna casserole, okay? I don't want it burning."
"Where are you going?"
"To talk to Kaede," replied the blond, already half up the stairs. "I've got your side of the story, and now I want to hear hers."
"She said she didn't want to talk to anyone."
"No, she said she didn't want to talk to you." He let out a smug grin. "She didn't say that about me, and I've been her favorite Hero for longer."
Kotetsu stuck out his tongue.
"Think about it though, while I go brave the moody teenage in her room. How many people do you come into contact with in a day?"
Letter from the Soup - Q for Quantity/Quality
Feel free to send a Wild Roar by leaving a review!