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Throwing Stones

Chapter Three: Eagle Eyes

Touya glared at the piercing scarlet eyes that always seemed to be glowering at him.

He was sorely tempted to make a snarky comment, however Kagome had taken the seat right next to him. Her shoulder would occasionally bump his arm as the small bus would drive over another pot hole. Unlike the vehicle that was used to bring them to the Higure Shrine, this one was only a quarter of the size and nearly every seat was filled. Aizawa had taken up the inward facing seat in order to keep a watchful eye on all of them.

Wasn't he supposed to be teaching at U.A. right now? He didn't think that the school would be so open to allowing one of their staff to run about so freely during working hours.

Kagome's shoulder brushed against his arm once more as they hit another oversized pot hole.

She'd kept her word about meeting with them individually last night in order to order them new clothes. Kagome had stopped by his room roughly an hour after dinner. Hawks had been standing behind her and her face had looked oddly pale. He simply assumed that she hadn't been feeling well earlier when Hawks sent her upstairs. However she still met with him and took down all of his sizes. She'd then pulled up her phone and had him select seven daily wear outfits for himself along with some comfortable sleepwear from a local department store. Afterwards she'd thanked him and moved onto Tenko's room.

By morning, he'd woken up to find all of the clothes he'd ordered sitting in front of his room in a neatly packed box. They'd smelled fresh and were still slightly warm from being in the dryer. Somehow, Kagome had managed to buy everything, pick it up from the store, wash it, dry it, pack it all away neatly and set it out in front of their rooms before 8am even rolled around. He had to wonder if she'd even slept at all given how much she'd managed to do in such a short amount of time.

Touya glanced down at her.

Dark circles were prominent beneath her eyes but her smile was as bright as it was the day before.

He felt another person's glare piercing through him. He didn't have to look to know that it was Aizawa shooting him a warning glance.

Touya turned his head away, choosing to watch the settings that'd passed by the windows of their bus.

The town looked pretty old. Almost like it'd come right out of an Edo era painting. Every block was filled with traditional styled homes that were weathered by age and disrepair. The sporadic stores that'd lined the corner of the streets weren't much better. With graffiti tagged over all the walls, the roofs looking just about ready to collapse and overall feeling of this town being left behind by the passage of time. Almost as if it'd been frozen and forgotten several decades ago.

The overgrowth of trees and moss gave the town a vibrant splash of green, adding to the odd atmosphere.

It was comforting in some way to know that he wasn't the only one being left behind by society.

"Looks like we're here," Kagome perked up from beside him.

He craned his neck to try to peer at the small house steadily coming into view.

He blinked as he took in the abysmal state of the home. The garden wall meant to prevent people from walking inside was nothing more than a crumbled heap of bricks. The yard was so overgrown that the grass was nearly to waist level. Vines stretched across the surface of the house itself and the windows were almost completely blocked from view. A part of him was terrified of what the inside looked like.

The bus pulled to a stop and Kagome made her way up to the front.

"This week we'll be here," She gestured towards the home just outsides their parked bus. "The couple that lives here is Saito Hajime and his wife Chizuru. Like many in this town, they're elderly and their children live too far away to help them. So goal is to clean up the exterior within three days and then do the interior for the remaining two. There will be one day of rest and then cleaning on Sunday. Everyone understand?"

Everyone looked outside, each of them wearing matching expressions of doubt.

There was absolutely no damn way they could get this place up to snuff in a week.

Kagome clapped her hands together, "Alright, I'm going to check in with the couple while Hawks will give you the run down. Be sure to keep yourselves hydrated. We've brought plenty of water in case you need it." With that she turned and gave Aizawa an appreciative nod of her head and whispered something to him. The man merely nodded in return before she stepped off of the bus.

Aizawa stepped forward, "Each of you will be in rotating teams. Today Touya, Tenko and Shuichi, the three of you will be working together."

Touya glanced at the other two with disinterest. It looked like their coordinator wanted them to play nice with each other. He was exactly in the habit of doing what other people wanted of him, but he also had no desire to be sent back to prison. Annoying or not, he'd put up with these absurd rules just to stay out in the open air a bit longer.

"Himiko and Jin, you two will be working as a team." As Aizawa spoke, the blonde yelled in excitement as she latched onto the older man's arm. Clearly, she was easy to please if she got that excited over something so simply.

"Last but not least, Kenji and Atsuhiro. You two are a team." Aizawa gestured towards the door, "Hawks will give you groups your assigned task for the day. Talk to each other to find out the best way to complete it as efficiently as possible." Dark eyes narrowed at them sharply, "Sloppy work will not be tolerated. If you don't put your effort into this, you'll not only be sent back but the hours you would've served for your community service here would be added onto your sentences. So do try to take this seriously."

Touya fought the urge to roll his eyes.

So it was either do the work right or serve extra time in the slammer. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. It'd seem that he wouldn't be able to get away with just half-assing the chores.

Once Aizawa stepped off the bus, the rest of them rose to their feet and followed after him.

Kagome was no where in sight. It'd seemed as if she'd headed straight inside to talk to the elderly couple they would be working for today. If anything, she was probably trying to placate them and keep them from raising a stink about having 'dirty villains' clean up their place.

"Heyo!" Hawks grinned as he descended onto the ground.

Had he flown all the way over here?

"I can take it from here," The hero grinned over at his colleague. "You should get back to your students."

So Eraser had decided to play hooky this morning just to escort them. It almost made him feel a little special. To think that a top hero would consider them such a threat that he'd skip out on his day job just to babysit them. It was almost funny.

"I'll be back at 3pm with the bus." Aizawa affirmed as he made his way back towards the vehicle. He stopped once to throw them all a warning look, "Don't do anything stupid while you're here. Those monitors will do more than just shock you."

Touya fought the urge to roll his eyes. Yeah, not like they hadn't heard that one before.

It was long before both Aizawa and the only method of transportation pulled away.

Hawks stepped towards them.

"So you three are up first, huh?" The blond smiled widely yet it never reached his eyes. His gaze was still just as sharp as they were yesterday—watching them with no small amount of caution. "Touya, Tenko and Shuichi right? You three are on mowing duty. You'll have to check the grass to make sure there's nothing in the way, but I'm sure you three can come up with a game plan together." His smirk was a hair too sharp to be considered friendly. "The equipment is already set up for you. Take breaks as you need and start talking with each other. Call me over if you need anything."

Hawks swiftly moved onto the next group, not bothering to ask if they had any questions that needed answered.

"Where do we even start?" Shuichi breathed, taking in the extensive overgrowth.

Tenko looked just as daunted, his brows furrowing and a slight bead of sweat forming over his temple.

Touya strolled towards the collection of lawn equipment. He grabbed onto a trimmer and made his way to the first patch of grass nearest to the walkway.

"This is too tall to use the mower on," He explained to the other two. "We need to cut down the height to something more manageable first."

Had neither of them done yard work a single day in their lives? His father often paid people to take care of his house but he also made sure to teach them how to do it on their own. Endeavor used to let the grass grow out on purpose so that he could practice caring for the yard. He'd told him and his other brothers that these were life skills they would need no matter if they were heroes or not. Naturally Fuyumi had been excluded from that discussion as in his father's mind, a women's duty was inside the home. A man's duty was outside of it.

He observed from the corner of his eye as Tenko and Shuichi copied him, each of them taking a different section of the yard while periodically glancing at him to make sure they were doing it correctly.

Touya felt his brow twitch.

If he had to babysit these two the entire time then they would never finish before 3pm rolled around. He also didn't like the idea of picking this up again tomorrow.

He caught sight of the other two groups as he worked his way around the main path of the yard.

Himiko and Jin were pulling up everything in the overgrown flowerbeds. From weeds to vines and even the wildflowers that'd sprouted there. They were yanking it all up with reckless abandon.

Not too far away from them both Kenji and Atsuhiro were struggling with the power washer. They'd held onto the device for dear life while the nozzle slipped around in their hands, wriggling about like a freshly caught fish. It'd be comical if it weren't for the fact that screwing up now meant getting thrown back in jail.

Frustrated, Touya set his trimmer down and made his way over to the pair.

"Hey idiots," He groused at them. "You've got the pressure too high." He took the nozzle from them with ease and set the pressure at a lower level. "Watch your hands. You can blow a finger right off if you keep it at the setting you had it at previously." He then gestured towards the old furniture still sitting on the makeshift patio, "Pro tip, before power washing anything, move every piece of furniture and object out of your way. You'll also want to start at the top and make your way down the walking path. Otherwise you'll just blow dirty water on the areas you've already cleaned."

Touya handed the nozzle back to them before he'd made his way towards the trimmer he'd left on the ground. Letting Jin and Himiko go hog wild on the flowerbeds wasn't as huge of a deal. They'd have to clear it all out anyways before they put down new mulch and planted something in season, preferably a plant that would be easy to care for. Otherwise all of their work would just fly out the door in two weeks time.

Touya focused nearly all of his attention on the work ahead of him. He'd zoned out as he trimmed back the height of the overgrown grass and threw the extra clippings into a container Kagome had left out for them. She'd said that she hadn't wanted to waste anything, so they were going to take the clippings at the end of the day and send it off to be turned into mulch for the flowerbeds. It honestly surprised him just how much she prepared for this little feel-good project of hers. He had to give her credit for going all out with it.

As he, Tenko and Shuichi finished the first leg of their work, Kagome eventually emerged from the house with the elderly couple in tow. Clutched in their hands were dish after dish of home cooked food. It was now evident why Kagome had disappeared for so many hours. She was helping them cook.

"Sorry for the delay, guys!" Kagome grinned up at them as they arranged the dishes on a small buffet style table. "We were having issues with the kitchen appliances."

Touya watched as Kagome's breath seemed heavier than it should be. Her cheeks were flushed this time but her balance almost seemed off.

Had she strained herself just cooking for them?

Hawks helped out in handing everyone paper plates and recycle safe cutlery.

Touya grabbed himself some of the curry that'd been set out for them. He kept his eyes on Kagome as she seemed to lean on her feet to one side. She'd pressed a palm to her collarbone and the sweat above her brow made it appear as if she were struggling to hold herself upright.

Was she sick?

His brows furrowed at the thought.

What would happen to this program if she were unable to continue to act as its coordinator? Would they just be sent back to their grey and lifeless cells?

He'd thoroughly enjoyed watching his father suffer when he'd arrested him. Since then though, Endeavor never bothered to pay him a visit at the prison. Nor did the rest of his family. His perfect revenge had been cut short. With no way to torment his old man and staring at the same white walls every day, he was beginning to go a little bit more crazy than he already was.

He had no interest in letting this program end early.

Touya shifted behind the woman as her feet started to give out on her. With practiced movements, he braced one of his hands on his shoulder as he allowed her back to rest upon his chest. He carefully held her steady before he cocked his head to glance down at her.

"Don't strain yourself." Touya stated calmly, "You look ready to faint."

He helped her stand and gestured towards the lawn chair he believed was supposed to be his seat.

"Take a rest. I'll bring you over some food." He gave her back a gentle push with his palm.

"I appreciate that but I'm fine!" She held up her hands and shook her head vigorously. The action nearly sent her sprawling back into him.

Touya rolled his eyes, "My arms aren't broken. Just sit down and eat."

By now Hawks had taken notice of their precarious position. The bird swooped in and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he led her towards the chair. Wordless, Touya grabbed an extra plate and piled on the food. He handed it to the blond when the man approached him. They shared a sharp look between each other before Hawks turned on his heel and made his way towards Kagome.

Clearly, the man did not like him touching her.

A small smirk splayed across his lips.

Maybe he could have some fun with this program after all.