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Of Butterfly Wings

Chapter Fifteen: New Possibilities

Touya scowled the second he spotted his youngest brother awaiting them at the front gate. The child poked his head out from behind the pillar that displayed their family's surname, his mismatched eyes lightening with his excitement as he spotted their approach.

"Is that your baby brother?" Kagome's voice pitched upward as she noticed the tiny boy waiting for them.

He rolled his shoulders, "Yeah. That's Shouto. I just call him egg-head though."

"Awww but he's so cute!" His girlfriend squealed, pressing both of her palms against her cheeks. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she'd found his younger sibling to be the most adorable thing on the planet.

Touya snorted through his nose, "He'll be joining me with training today, so you and Fuyumi can watch."

Shouto made his way towards them, his gaze drifting between them with no small amount of confusion.

"Hey egg-head," Touya greeted his youngest sibling. "This is Kagome. She's my girlfriend and Fuyumi's friend."

Shouto gave a faint nod of his head.

This was the first time they'd ever had anyone actually visit the estate. Growing up, their father never allowed anyone over as a safety precaution. He didn't want to risk his home address being exposed to the public. After his accident at Sekoto Peak though, people were refused entry as his siblings wanted to make sure he had at least one place he wasn't gawked at.

So for Shouto, this was a brand new experience.

The boy clutched onto his hand, his eyes darting towards Kagome cautiously.

"He's so adorable." She cooed in response, ensuring not to approach the boy.

Touya felt his lips curling up into a smile. No matter how much she wanted to hug Shoto, he could tell that she was trying to be respectful of the child's boundaries.

"Kagome!" Fuyumi squealed, rushing out of the house.

His sister leapt forward as she wrapped her arms around Kagome's neck in a fierce hug.

"It's been way too long!" His sister complained, pulling the other girl closer into what could only be described as a bear hug.

Kagome returned it just as fiercely.

"I know!" Her smile turned into a wide grin, "I've been wanting to hang out with you but you're always busy lately." Kagome pursed her lips into a pout, "Don't think I'll be letting you escape after today."

She pressed her cheek against Fuyumi's affectionately.

Touya glowered at the image the two made. For just a second, he wondered which one of them Kagome was actually dating.

"Oh don't get sulky!" His sister teased, "We were friends before you met so you don't get to be jealous."

Touya shot her a confident smirk, "Who says I'm jealous? I was just wondering why there was smoke coming out of the house."

Fuyumi let out a high pitched squeal before she darted back inside, tending to the piercing screeching of the fire alarm.

"Should we help her?" Kagome bit her bottom lip.

He gave a placating wave of his hand, "It's fine. Even if she did start a grease fire, her ice quirk can take care of it. It's happened at least three times this month."

At least that he counted.

Fuyumi was an amazing cook, but she was easily distracted by her novels. Often reading them at every possible opportunity. Which led to incidents like these. Fire was a common hazard in this house anyways, so they were always more than prepared to deal with it.

Touya led both Shouto and Kagome towards the training hall, "Come on, while she's working on that we'll get started."

He brought Kagome to the far corner of the room.

"Everything here has been modified so that it won't catch fire even if we use our quirks." Touya began, "So it'll be safer if you watch from here."

He didn't intend on going crazy with his fire, but he didn't want her getting hurt either way.

Kagome nodded once, "Alright, just be careful."

He flashed her a wry smile.

That was a lesson he'd learned the hard way three years ago.

He didn't need to go crazy. He just needed to condense his shots.

"Hey egg-head, you ready?"

Shouto nodded once, encasing his right side in ice.

Touya closed his eyes as he collected a small gathering of azure flames into his palms. He could feel the surge of power flowing through his veins. It burned and made his skin itch, but he felt no pain.

He could feel Kagome's eyes watching him with keen interest. He'd never been nervous about people observing him when he was using his quirk. For all of the scars upon his body, he always held a certain amount of pride over the fact that his flames were even stronger than his father's. He felt no shame or embarrassment over that fact.

Touya tried to focus his attention, pulling all of his flames into a small yet condensed ball within his closed palms.

He felt Shouto's ice forming around his feet and steadily creeping up his legs. They were calling it the 'ice platform'. By encasing his lower body in ice, they were able to better regulate his temperate and keep him from burning himself. It was an effective method at preventing his scars from becoming worse. More importantly, it served as a base that he could use to encase his flames. He would only allow his flames to go as far as the edge of Shouto's ice. After that, he would draw it back just as quickly. He considered it a half-powered version of his old man's Prominence Burn technique. It would put far less strain on his body and it gave him far greater control over his output.

The only drawback was that he would have to be in physical contact with his opponents in order for this attack to work.

"Oh wow, it's gorgeous!" Kagome commented from the far side of the room.

He felt his face flush unrelated to the sharp heat of his flames.

This was the only time he felt flustered when using his power, however if Kagome thought they were beautiful, then he would keep using them. Most of his family was too busy scolding him for using his quirk that they rarely commented about it. This week had been the very first time any of them had supported his usage of his power. Although that was probably because Shouto was currently using his ice as a buffer.

Touya flinched as the heat of his fire seared at his skin.

He felt the ice around his feet begin to melt, signifying that it was time for him to cease the use of his quirk. He lowered down the temperature until the flames extinguished on their own.

"That was amazing!" Kagome gushed, approaching him as soon as it was safe to do so. "I can see why you want to take the top spot at the Sports Festival!" Her brows furrowed slightly, "Although it looks like the burn on your arm got a little worse."

She pressed her index finger to her chin thoughtfully, "Have you tried lowering the temperature of your flames? Maybe lowering the heat could prevent you from burning yourself."

Touya flexed his fingers, allowing the remaining embers of his quirk to dissipate.

"I've only ever practiced taking my flames higher in temperature. So I'm not exactly sure how to lower them." His lips dipped at the thought.

Endeavor had hammered the lesson into himself and Shouto that they needed to max out their firepower in order to achieve the right end result for his techniques. Flashfire Fist, Hell Spider and most certainly the Prominence Burn attacks were all moves that required them to raise their temperature.

Kagome's eyes shifted to his younger brother. She knelt down in front of him, a small smile playing upon her lips.

"Shouto-kun, you're good with ice right?" He watched as her smile softened at his sibling's shy expression. "Do you think you can help your big brother in learning how to lower his temperature?"

He knew where she was going with this.

Shouto was exceptionally good at reversing their father's techniques. Everything he'd learned with fire, he was applying to his ice instead. So if anyone could show him how to lower his temp, it'd be Shouto. However the very notion still stung his pride.

Not that Kagome had any knowledge of their family's horrid history.

Shouto shifted on his heels. His mismatched eyes lifted and their gazes met.

Touya gave a low sigh and rolled his shoulders, "Fine I'll listen to you just this once."

But only because his girlfriend was watching. He didn't want her to think he was an absolutely jerk to his baby brother. Especially considering how adorable she seemed to think he was. Damn egg-head.

Touya started again, this time copying Shouto as he gradually took his flame and lowered its temperature. The azure fire remained the same color, yet he could feel a small chill run through his veins, leaving a wave of gooseflesh over what remained of his unscarred skin.

He hadn't opened his eyes or paid much attention to the two around him. His mind remained focused on what he knew he had to do next. He sucked a breath through his nose and spread his power outward, pushing it through his body until the unbearable heat shifted into something cold.

He blinked.

"Ice!" Kagome exclaimed, "You have ice!"

Touya glanced down at himself. The azure flames were still splaying out from his palms, however a thin coat of ice had formed over his chest—sprouting from where his heart rested.

"Keep it going, nii-chan!" Shouto joined in. The boy clutched his hands into fists as he encouraged him, "Try to maintain it!"

He closed his eyes once more—blocking out everything except the sensation coursing through him. His veins felt hot. As if a fire were pulsing through him. Yet his chest and heart felt cold. The fire that once burned his skin now felt like a mild flicker of warmth, heating him to a comfortable degree without damaging his already broken body.

"You've got this!" Kagome and Shouto shouted in unison.

He fought the urge to laugh at them.

Why was it those two were so similar to each other?

Touya released his breath as he finally allowed his power to dissipate. The frost upon his torso shattered while his flames gradually dispersed.

He could only glance down at his palms, marveling at the lack of newly burned flesh.

He did it.

His vision blurred as tears he knew would never come tried to form. All of his life he had been told that he'd been born to be his father's masterpiece. He had been told that he was supposed to surpass his father and take down All Might with a perfected version of both his parents' quirks. Yet for as long as he could remember, he had never been able to use his mother's ice abilities. He'd always relied on heat to fight his way through training. So why now was it that it surfaced?

Touya pressed his palm against his cheek. He paused as he took note of the slightly less course texture of his burns.

It wasn't much but they'd been healed even more than before.

His breath stuck in his throat as a realization hit him.

It was Kagome's quirk.

It wasn't just his burns that she was healing, somehow she had managed to lift the lock that had prevented him from accessing his powers before. She had managed to open a door that he once thought was impossible.

Touya's smile turned warm as he met her gaze.

"You really are something else."

A/n: Sorry for a later post than normal guys! I had a bit of a struggle with words today lol. In any case I'm going to take a one day break tomorrow on 8/9 and resume normal posting on 8/10. I just need a recharge day after all the double posts XD. Thanks so much for all of your support! I really do love everything you guys say and I read through it all. I'll be back the day after tomorrow so no need to fret! We'll be finishing up the Todoroki family visit since I want to add more time with Natsuo and Fuyumi before we move onto the Sports Festival Arc in full. I hope you all enjoyed!