I'm pretty excited about how the rest of the story is going to go. Hopefully everyone is enjoying it so far. We are finally in the total concentration training and going move into flame breathjng next! What does everyone think of how thing sre going along so far? Would love to hear other people's thoughts.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MHA OR DEMON SLAYER. THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CREATORS!!!
Chapter 12: Breathe in, Breathe out
Izuku sat in the passanger side of the truck while Kyojuro drove to the dump. He mentioned that he wanted to throw out the garbage before it made his truck smell bad. While they drove Izuku started to get sleepy again and started to dose off. Kyojuro just hummed a happy tune while he drove, noticing that the boy next to him is trying to keep his eyes open.
"You can rest for now if you'd like. I'll wake you up when we stop somewhere fo get food."
He turns on the radio and an acoustic rock song starts to play. Izuku nods at him while leaning against the door. He lets out a yawn before closing his eyes. Kyojuro hums to the rhythm of the song and smiles while continuing to drive.
-Else Where-
Tenko laid on the ground gasping for breath. His body hurt everywhere after his "training" session with the crazy blonde girl. The years that he's been with the man he's come to know as All for One have been hell. the only thing he hates more than the man are heroes. They are brought up to be the best of the best. People idolize them for the "good" that they do. Nothing boiled Tenko's blood more than hearing how cool they are.
'If heroes are so good then why haven't any come to save me or any of us from this place?'
He thought to himself. He sat up to examine the wounds he's received from todays training. Multiple cuts around his body that aren't too serious. AFO didn't have to heal him this time to save him from the brink of death. While he patch himself up a camera from the corner ceiling of the room kept watch over him.
-Back with Izuku and Rengoku-
Izuku is woken up by a light shake from Kyojuro. He notices that they are now parked at a fancy looking estate that he and his mom have passed by a few times while out running errands. The man smiles at him and chuckles for a moment.
"Looks like you were having a good rest. I almost didn't want to wake you but we can get some food now!"
His ears are a bit rattled at the man's shouting but he smiles nonetheless. He opens the truck door and steps out to look at the estate more. The house is fairly large but the land around makes up more the the property. The house looks like a traditional Japanese home with a flame like design similar to Kyojuro's hair and cloak. Around the house lay practice dummies, and poles that stick into the ground. The awe in Izuku's face made Kyojuro smile brightly and patted his back.
"I'm glad that you like my home. When you learn how to use total concentration properly we shall move your training here."
Izuku nods and follows Kyojuro as he makes his way towards the front door of the house. Before he could even reach out to slide it open, someone quickly rushed out and jumped onto Kyojuro. The person looked to be like a smaller version of the man with flame like hair, big eye brows, and fiery eyes. Kyojuro wrapped his arms around them and let out a hearty laugh.
"Daddy, you're home! Mommy and I are making breakfast now! huh, who's that?"
The kid points at Izuku with a questionable expression. Kyojuro lifts them up and places them on his shoulders while chuckling. Izuku waves politely with a smile. Before he could introduce himself, Kyojuro beat him to it.
"He is my new student, Izuku Midoriya. Lad, this here is my daughter kyanjuro or Kyan for short."
The boy waves politely but is a bit surprised to know that Kyojuro is a father. Kyan smiles back and waves happily, her bright eyes reflecting the kind look of Kyojuro. The man ushers Izuku into the house and he takes a look around. The home is very traditional with furniture placed in various spots and Japanese decorations on the walls. In their living room is a wall full of katanas that Izuku assumed belonged to past demon slayers or family members. Each guard of the swords has some variation of a shape that resembled fire.
"Please take a seat and make yourself a home. I'm sure the food won't be long to finish. My wife is a great cook! It's one of the reasons I love her so much."
The man whispered the last part while looking at Izuku and the boy let out a low chuckle. Kyojuro put down Kyan and she ran through through a open door shouting happily to who he assumed was her mother. Izuku took a seat on the couch in the middle of the living room, taking not that the flame aesthetic looked amazing throughout the house. His attention kept going back to the swords on the wall. Kyojuro took a seat in a chair next to the couch that looked to fit him perfectly.
"I see that you are intrigued by the previous flame breather's swords. All of those have belonged to someone in my family who mastered the breathe style of flame. Sadly they are no longer with us but still exist in my family's memories."
Izuku listens carefully with a saddened face but smiles a bit at seeing Kyojuro's expression. The man never seemed to have a frown or anything close to it. His smile made Izuku feel better in some way.
"Why are you going go teach me flame breathing? By the looks of it, it seems to be a family tradition."
He asked genuinely curious. Izuku didn't think of it till now, but even Iroh taught him things that the old man said was traditional or family made. In a way, he felt that he is intruding on their teachings. Kyojuro noticed Izuku's conflicted feeling and held up a hand as if to push them away. His smile turned more into a grin.
"I've known Iroh for a long time. His nephew, Zuko was my student before you. I can see the same drive in you that he aslo had. Iroh doesn't play favorites easily as well. If he taught you more than the other students at the dojo then he also sees something special in you. Flame breathing was a family tradition but I chose to break that cycle so that there are people who can protect themselves and others."
The green haired boy looked at Kyojuro with inspiration. There are people who believe in him other than his mother and possibly father. He didn't feel as alone as he did while growing up after losing his best friend to pride. Not to say he never thought his mother was there for him, but there are things that he just couldn't bring himself to tell her. As time went on it became easier to shoulder his own grief.
"Thank you Mr. Rengoku. You and Mr. Iroh feel like new members of my family. Things have been difficult for me since my mom told me the truth of what happened to my dad. You guys have really helped me to achieve my dream of becoming a hero."
Kyojuro nods with his same smile. He closes his eyes and lays his head back into the chair. Izuku follows his lead and takes his rest gratefully. His eyes snap open.
'No, even if I'm not training physically I could still be doing something. Mr. Rengoku already told me how to perform total concentration breathing so I can still work on that while even resting.'
Izuku's thoughts are filled with determination as he lays his head back with eyes closed again. Focusing, he then notices something that shcoked him to his core. Kyojuro is using total concentration breathing right now, even as he is resting as well. Focusing on the rhythm of Kyojuro's breathing, Izuku imagines his lungs like at the beach. He pictures the blood flowing in his veins, the beating of his heart, and the state of his body.
'What is this? My body feels like it's getting hotter. Even though I'm resistant to heat, this is different.'
Taking advantage of his larger lungs, Izuku takes a large inhale of oxygen. The blood in his body is pumping faster as his heart beats quicker the more he inhales. Izuku's eyes shoot open again once he feels his veins bulge making them visible on his arms and face. The world felt different through his eyes. He looked over to Kyojuro and noticed that his breathing seemed to be happening is a slower motion. Then to his surprise, the man opened his eyes and gave a thumbs up.
The motion of the man moving is way slower than normal. Then almost in an instant he moved from his chair to the couch close to himself. Placing a hand on Izuku's chest, Kyojuro nodded at him proudly.
"You need to breath Izuku. You are overdoing it."
Letting out the breath that he took, Izuku started to cough violently. Kyojuro patted his back softly while Izuku tried to control his breathing. It felt like his lungs are about to burst. Then a memory flashed through his head as he struggled to calm down.
-Flashback-
Izuku and Iroh sat inside the paper dojo across from each other. Both are holding a ball of flame in-between their hands while other students are watching on the side. Izuku's ball of fire is visibly smaller than Iroh's and he is struggling to maintain the flame. Their faces show the difference in skill that both have to maintain their fire. While Iroh has a calm face and light breathe, Izuku is visibly sweating and breathing heavier than him.
"Remember my students, fire comes from the breathe not the muscles. I will remind you all as many times as I need to. Too many times have I seen you all try to force your power to the surface."
Izuku's fire slowly starts to go out the more he struggles to make it last. Iroh let's his flame go out as he reaches a hand out and snuff Izuku's own. As soon as the flame is out, Izuku falls onto his back breathing heavily. The students who watch all awe in amazement. Those with fire quirks didn't have their flames last as long as Izuku's did, but Iroh is on a whole other level.
"The more you force your power to come out, the harder it will be to control. Think of at as water going through a funnel. If too much water is groing through at a high pressure then the funnel will break and have leaks that waste it. You must remain calm and control the pressure, not the other way around."
-End of Flashback-
Izuku places a hand over Kyojuro's own that's on his chest. Instead of gulping air again, he takes a slow deep inhale. He holds that breath for a moment before letting it out slowly just like taking it in. It takes couple minutes but eventually his breathing evens out. Kyojuro looks at him surprised at the action. Izuku then sits up while breathing normally again, letting go of Kyojuro's hand.
"That was interesting. Did Iroh teach you how to do that?"
The man asked sincerely curious. Izuku nods at him and looks at Kyojuro with a heavy sigh at almost suffocating. Before they could talk more, kyan enters the living room with a woman following behind her. Izuku is struck at the beauty of the older woman and sees the resemblance of both parents in Kyan's appearance. Kyojuro's wife is a bit shorter than him with straight red hair. Her skin is smooth, but under the clothes she wears he notices muscle. Her eyes are a piercing black with white in the middle.
He notices that they are both carrying large plates of food. Much larger than what a normal person could carry on their own. Both Izuku and Kyojuro stand up as they make their way towards the short table.
"Izuku, this here is my wife Satori. Satori this is my new student, Izuku Midoriya."
Izuku bows at the woman who also bows back politely with a gentle smile. She and Kyan place the plates of food onto the table and they sit down on the floor to prepares the separate plates.
"It is very nice to meet you Izuku. I hope that the training my husband is putting yiu through isn't too much. He could be a bit rough without realizing it sometimes."
When she finishes speaking, Kyojuro has a anime sweat drop while rubbing the back of his head. The scene almost made Izuku chuckle but before he could Kyan spoke up.
"Daddy is training me as well! But I got a boo boo and mommy got mad at him so it's only sometimes now!
With a small grin, Izuku looks at Kyojuro then at Kyan and finally at Satori. Kyojuro's expression is a mix of exhaustion, fright, and embarrassment. It was almost like a sitcom show happening in real life.
"The training is going very well so far ma'am. Mr. Rengoku is teaching me how to perform total concentration breathing at the moment. I'm having my struggles but I know he'll help me get past them."
She nods happily and hands him a plate of food. The dish has fried rice, some pieces of fish, veggies, and a small bowl of soup. Izuku's eyes widen at how much is on his plate but then notices that their plates have just as much food if not more. Once the plates are past out, everyone puts their hands together for a small prayer and thanks. When Izuku eats his first bite, all manners suddenly leave his brain as he picks up the plate and shovels more food into his mouth. He can hear Kyojuro and Kyan laughing loudly while Satori is giggling.
After breakfast is finished, Kyojuro takes Izuku out to the courtyard. The training dummys that are around the land show wear and damage. They get to a fresh looking wooden dummy. It's basically a wooden log with different posts sticking out in various spots. Izuku looks at Kyojuro in curiosity.
"You may not always have your blade with you in combat. Even your flames may put you in a disadvantage. I know Iroh has taught you hand to hand but it's always nice to know different ways to fight. With total concentration breathing, you could even rival some with strength and speed quirks."
Izuku nods, his brain soaking up every word that Kyojuro says. He watches as the man stands infront of a worn out dummy and takes a stance. His legs are spread out with his left arm stretched out palm up. his right arm is bent infront of his chest with his palm resting just above the left forearm. Izuku copies the stance infront of his own dummy and watches Kyojuro's moves. He moves slowly through different katas and he copies them with his analytical eyes.
I'm so excited to get to the U.A exam! So far this story was just a thing to pass some time to kill but I've actually started to really get into it. I'm glad there are people following as well. I hope tnat you guys are enjoying it so far. I usually think of what to add while at work, haha. Any please tell me what you all think so far. See ya in the next chapter.