XI

Chapter edited thanks to fencer29's point. I never considered that Twice made the clones and it makes enough sense for me to ignore. I'm going through and revise the rest of the story to make sense.

The next day was Sunday. Fuyumi and Natsuo went to visit their mother, the latter for the first time. By the time Toya descended the stairs, he only saw Shoto and Teiko in the kitchen. The boy bounced eagerly at his aunt's leg. "Can we train? Please, please?" Toya stepped towards the table and looked over the day's breakfast. Though he saw some of his favorite things, he had no appetite. The image of the corpse lingered in his mind.

"Once you're done with Shoto, I'd like to train too." The teenager declared.

Shoto turned and gawked. "You don't train, Toya," he said accusingly. "You just want to steal Auntie from me. It's no fair, you had her yesterday."

Teiko put her hand on the half-ginger's head. "This isn't something worth getting fired up about," she told him gently. Shoto frowned, but nodded. He hated the idea of sharing his teacher. The lad stepped away and skulked in the family room, his All Might toy cuddled in the crook of his left arm. "I might have spoiled that boy," she sighed. "Did you want to talk about last night?" Nobody was in their immediate, so it was the best chance they'd get.

Toya was full of thoughts, but didn't know how to put them into words. In the end, he shook his head. Since he had nothing, Teiko posed another question. "Is it alright with you if we have Shoto watch your training? If he one day decides to use his left side, he'll have your lesson as a base." Toya shrugged, which she took as consent. "As soon as you do want to talk, I'm always here."

She finished clean-up and the three of them went to the courtyard. Shoto sat on one of Teiko's quirk-made stone benches. He'd finished his tantrum and found he was just as curious to learn of fire as he was ice, so long as he didn't have to use flames of his own. Toya stood just off to the side.

Teiko began by holding out her arm parallel with the ground, as if to brace it against an oncoming force. "I don't know about you, but my fire has a bit of a kick. Shooting like this is okay for small flames, but it can hurt your shoulder." She adjusted her stance from solid like iron to a more elastic stretch by bending her knees and lowering her shoulders. "If you put your palm down and pull upwards instead of shooting out point blank. This way you can pull more heat and help the flames grow without jarring your shoulder." She demonstrated by going through the motion. She kept her feet firmly in place and drew her limb skywards. The drag created seemed to waft the embers higher and higher until they were an impressively sized inferno. She swung her wrist and released the blaze harmlessly to the sky.

"The underhanded angle gives you a better aim than if you push down, and all the pressure naturally rises, so if you push down, you might get knocked off your feet." Teiko gave another demonstration by raising her arm high to the sky and shoving the limb down in a stiff motion. This time at her fire's release, her body did jerk to one side and throw her off balance. "If you use both, you can achieve some level of temporary flight, at the expense of heat build-up." To prove her point, she rubbed her wrist.

My quirk, Toya thought as he considered his covered arm, destroys my body. Beneath it, scores of disfigurements marred his flesh. They were all thanks to his early days of training. Before little Shoto arrived to take the heat off me. Teiko stepped to the side and Toya practiced the underhand style. He expected it to hurt, but her tutelage was spot on. The heat kept away from him and took to the air instead. Once he had a good form, Teiko continued with a slightly new lesson.

She flexed her fingers lightly and pulled embers into a ball form. "The best part of elemental quirks is that hand to hand combat isn't entirely necessary. If you want, all you have to do is set the stage for your battle. You can set a fire to cause a distraction. Smoke will generally send people away from you, but you could herd them into a trap easily enough."

Toya noticed how when she trained with Shoto, she made sure to make villains the subjects. For him, it was just people to oppose. She gets me. He remembered Jim's uncertain fate and looked down at his mottled, permanently disfigured palm. Could I kill? Do I have enough conviction?

Teiko had Toya run through drills so she could work with Shoto. She encouraged the teen to take a field trip and see how different objects reacted to his supreme level of heat. As such, Toya wandered off and did exactly that. He marveled at how easily even the wettest of greens instantly disintegrated to his touch. His cremation quirk treated everything the same. He grimaced in pain as some of his own flames seared his palm. It even burns me. He envied his father for his ability to wear fire like a second skin. Then again, his fire's nowhere near as hot. He looked back and watched as Shoto and Teiko went through a strange practice. She made an obstacle half of earth and half of ice. "You have to have perfect balance on both," she instructed. The track was short, but Toya knew it would likely get longer and longer as Shoto proved himself.

The trio finished their work and went inside for lunch. Fuyumi and Natsuo walked in only five minutes after they'd taken their seats. "You're in trouble!" Natsuo said with a grin.

"I didn't do it," Shoto declared at once.

"Not you," Fuyumi chuckled, "Auntie."

Toya was impressed at his aunt's easy laugh and smile. He felt guilty enough for going to a Quirk Gym, and all he did was participate in measly brawls. How could she act so cool with a man's blood on her hands, however old it was?

"Shoto ate the last bun," she deflected.

"You said you wouldn't tell!"

"Hey!" Natsuo sounded mildly upset, but still laughed. "I was going to eat that."

"I'll buy you another one, Natsuo." Teiko looked perfectly relaxed. She didn't even glance at Toya. "So what'd I do this time?" There wasn't a hint of fear in her. Then again, there never had been.

"Mom wants to know why you haven't visited her." Fuyumi sat at the table with her rice.

Though it was entirely because of Shoto that Teiko hadn't visited her friend, she wouldn't let him feel guilty. She understood why he didn't want to visit "That's a good question. If you're all okay without having a responsible adult around-"

"You're not responsible," Natsuo interjected.

"Then I can go see her once we've cleaned up. Unless someone else thinks they can beat me for most swears of the day."

All eyes fell to Fuyumi, who flushed. "Fine…what do I have to beat?"

"Twenty."

"There's no way… are you serious?" Natsuo laughed and Fuyumi began to mutter a string of 'hell, hell, hell…' all while she kept count on her fingers.

"I'm not. I only said one, but apparently we broke Fuyumi."

In her concentration, the girl had continued on until she reached twenty one. "Done. Wait, what?" She flushed red. "I said all those for nothing?"

"You sure did, you potty mouth," Teiko teased. She stood and ruffled Fuyumi's hair. "Thanks. I owe you uh…twenty one, or would that be twenty two?"

How could Mom, who can't stand a kid being hit, be friends with her? Toya paused. Then again, she said it happened in her twenties. Maybe she got bored with Dad gone. She'd lost her punching bag.

She headed to the door. "You know the drill. Call me if there's an emergency. You guys get to decide who's in charge." She went to the door and left.

"Pick me!" Shoto squeaked.

Toya should have felt some urge to take charge, since he was the oldest, but he hadn't felt an ounce of obligation over his siblings since the night he burned the brown bag. The teen slipped his shoes on and followed his aunt out of the house. If Shoto, Fuyumi, or Natsuo were surprised, he didn't hear it. He wanted to see even a shadow of what his mother had once been, back before his father became her personal devil.

Teiko didn't attempt to speak to the nearly silent youth. She imagined his head was swamped with thoughts from the night before. If not that, then hopefully the morning's training still lingered somewhere in his mind. Toya spoke first. "My flames hurt me."

Though it wasn't about the eve before, Teiko was glad he could think of his training. "Enji tried to make opposites attract, but in you they repel one another. Don't worry, I have a few ideas for you." The teen felt relieved that she didn't tell him to push through the pain, that she took his complaint seriously.

Their trip went by too quickly. Toya enjoyed the time with his aunt even more than before. The final barrier between them had broken and he could say whatever he wanted. Not only was she unshakable, but she took everything in stride. Likewise, she seemed to remove any filter during their discussions. When they were in earshot of others, he became quiet and aloof. Teiko put her natural charm to work and conversed easily with anyone. Toya envied the easiness of her chatter, but felt no motivation to duplicate her act.

When they reached the hospital, a nurse told them where they could find Rei. Teiko knocked with three thumps, a pause, and then one last one. Inside, Rei straightened at the familiar beat from her childhood. "Come in," she called with barely restrained eagerness. Her voice sounded sweeter than Toya had ever heard. The young man took a step out of the way and stood on the wall. Though he had intended on being a part of the visit, he felt like a third wheel. If he changed his mind, he could always reveal himself.

Teiko, of course, said nothing. "It's stuffy in here, Rei. Mind if I keep the door open?"

Rei glanced at her closed window and at her meticulously clean surroundings. "Okay. I've kept everything shut because of the weather."

Teiko chuckled and took a seat on the bed. "What kind of ice wielder doesn't like a good, glacial breeze?"

Rei smiled and stared fondly at her oldest friend. She had known Enji and Teiko far too long to think of them as a pair. Many years with the duo showed the woman that they were definitely not the same. "I'm taking it Fuyumi and Natsuo passed along my request?"

"Yeah, I've got the porn, but it's weird that you asked your kids about it."

Rei flushed lightly and giggled. "I forgot what a pervert you are."

Toya shuddered on the wall. Gross.

"They said I was in trouble, so of course I came. I'm sorry it's taken so long, Rei."

"How long have you been there?"

"Since after the night you left." Teiko's tone became serious. "I'm sorry I didn't visit even before this, Rei." The woman before her had cost her brother a small fortune; not only for her 'dowry', but in bribes to pay off the notoriously overworked and underpaid hospital staff. "I didn't know where you lived or your number. Your parents never said anything."

Rei's shoulders drooped and she looked away. "I didn't want you to know how weak I was. You always said he was nothing but a bully with a handy quirk, that I could stop him if I really wanted to…" the white haired woman's eyes leaked tears. "I really wanted to, Teiko, but I couldn't."

"So you took it out on a five year old."

"No!" Rei's voice sounded like a plea for someone to understand. Tears filled her eyes. "I -"

"Stop." Teiko's command was instantly obeyed. Toya heard his mother cry on the other side. He risked a glimpse. When he peered around the corner, he saw Teiko with her arms wrapped around Rei. "There's no logic in Hell, Rei. The fact that you feel guilty will eventually be enough for Shoto. He'll come around."

Toya was surprised, but that was all it took for the two women to clear any bad blood between them. Rei calmed and Teiko changed the topic. She spoke of neighbors he'd never meet and places he'd never see. Though Toya saw plenty of openings, he didn't feel any connection to the woman in the room. She may have been his mother once, but she seemed more like a stranger that he'd tucked away in the brown paper bag.

The brown paper bag is a reference to an earlier chapter.