Neglected Turmoil

A month passed. Toya went out to see Kasumi every single day. One day, he ran outside when he saw her drawing something.

The soft green grass felt nice underneath his pained skin. There were new burns that littered his flesh every day, but he didn't pay them much mind when he wasn't training. No, when he wasn't training, a surprising amount of his attention went towards Kasumi.

His blue eyes peered over her shoulder with curiosity. "How about you draw me?"

"Ok." She timidly grinned.

She still had trouble getting out of her shell within this timeframe. Whenever the topic would go about Toya being a prince, he would chatter on for hours about how he would be the next king.

The next king to prove his merit.

Not only that, the bullies stayed away from Kasumi whenever Toya would come around. They would be intimidated that he was royalty. Additionally, it creeped them out when his body slightly smoked.

She motioned herself to turn around to face him. "Can you sit in front of me?"

Toya did as he was told, sitting on the grass with his legs crisscrossed. The gentle breeze ruffled his hair a little bit as he wore a smile full of determination. He was posing, in his own way, to have a picture drawn that would be fit for a king.

It didn't take too long for her to doodle him. Kasumi was only 11 years old.

No one else at the orphanage knew how to draw like Kasumi did. Sure, her drawings were mediocre at best, but they did show a future potential.

At least one could tell it was a person, not some blobby mess.

She eyed Toya only once and drew with a pen. Some lines overlapped each other. She drew his head like a circular shape.

The eyes looked very anime style, but they were too far apart. The spikes in his hair were alright.

The hands....

Let's not talk about the hands.

Every beginner artist's nightmare. There was no way she could draw them right.

And his head was much bigger than his body. However, Kasumi didn't see anything wrong with her drawing. She smiled as she showed him it.

"There you go."

Toya wasn't as kind about it as she'd hoped. Once again, he gave a blunt reply. "It sucks."

His comment caused her to feel disappointed. Her smile suddenly disappeared. "Oh."

Feeling her pride hurt, her eyebrows furrowed slightly angrily with teary eyes. She ripped it out of her sketchbook to redo it.

She started the process to crumble it up.

Toya's eyes widened. That same sense of guilt returned from before. The girl was sensitive, and he knew that. Yet he still said things like that. It made him feel a lot worse than he thought it would.

"Don't do that. That'll only waste more paper."

He was trying to be comforting, but he wasn't very good at it.

He stood up and quickly snatched the pen away from her. He pulled one of her arms towards himself and began to draw on her skin. He drew tiny little stick people of horrible quality. Unlike Kasumi, he had absolutely no skill for art.

"There." He tried to keep from smiling as he worked. "Now you can see what real art looks like."

Kasumi started giggling. Every time he drew, it made her very ticklish. In fact, that was probably the first time he had heard her really laugh.

When she flinched from being tickled from it, it made one of the stick figures have a really long leg. That only made her laughing worse. "His leg is huge!"

The sound of Toya's laughter merged together with hers. Neither one of them had heard the other laugh before, so it felt like a weight had been lifted from their chests.

"That's because you keep moving!"

"Heeheehee! It tickles!" She squealed uncharacteristically loud as she went to go grab her pen back from him. "My turn to draw on you!"

He kept lifting the pen above her head so that she couldn't reach it. He was a good bit taller than her, so he had the advantage in that way. He gave her a teasing smile. "It doesn't work that way."

"Toya! Give it!" She waved her hands cautiously to try to grab it. That only made a smug smile appear on his face like it was some sort of new game.

"I already said no." He turned his back to her in order to make it more difficult. He felt amused to see her struggle so much. He tried to keep his lips pressed firmly together to suppress the laugh that he could feel bubbling to the surface.

Kasumi shifted her shorter frame in an attempt to move in front of him. She was trying harder to grab the pen. She was still laughing, but then followed with an, "Eek!"

Her ankle twisted the wrong way, causing her to clumsily fall into him. This was why she was trying to be careful as she's very accident prone with her balance.

Toya wasn't expecting the sudden weight. He didn't have time to brace himself, so his feet awkwardly gave out. He found himself tumbling to the ground.

"Ow!"

He landed on his side with his face a few inches away from hers. Her face was already red with embarrassment. His own face quickly mirrored the shade. He noticed some of her features.

Like the way her hair did brush against his face upon getting up. She didn't get hurt since his body cushioned her fall.

The way the wind subtly hit her from that moment.

He rolled to the side to sit up.

Upon moving away from him, she successfully grabbed the pen from his hand. Oblivious to his gawking, she motioned herself to draw on his arm. She made a mark successfully. "Got you."

Toya's mouth gaped for a second. He looked absolutely shocked that she was able to draw on him. "That isn't fair!"

"Don't move." She kept trying to draw on him. He was flinching. "I'm going to draw a cat on you."

It was strange how she was becoming more open to talking. Just a little bit more when she's in a giggling fit.

"I don't want a cat on me!" He argued. He pulled his arm away with a pout. He felt frustrated that he had been defeated, if it could even be called that. In his mind, that was exactly what it was.

"Oh..." She then clammed up a little bit once more.

Does he not like cats?

She then lowered her hand awkwardly, not knowing what to do. She felt a little anxious again.

The guilt had returned once more. Toya huffed before reaching his arm out again.

What am I doing? He failed to meet her eyes. It was hard to push past the embarrassment that he felt for a reason that was unknown to him. "Don't make it big, ok? And only one."

The smile returned to her face once more. That stupid, awkward smile of hers.

The pen made contact with his arm. She didn't press too hard nor too light. She didn't take notice of Toya's embarrassment as he was still looking away from her. Maybe she figured he was waiting to be surprised.

She drew the cat's head as a circle. The body and legs were just basic ovals. The ears were triangles. But the face at least looked kind of cute.

When she was done, he finally turned to look at it. He didn't give it more than a glance though. Then he looked away again.

Training entered his mind again. Strangely, he didn't feel like getting back to that. He would rather be with her than go through that torment at the time.

He had the mindset similar to an adult who had to go to work. He told himself that it needed to be done, but he didn't want to move from that spot. Kasumi was a source of gentle warmth to him, and he preferred that over the burning fire of his own heart.

Maybe there was a way he could get Enji's attention without training. A way that involved her. It was a selfish idea, one that was for his own benefit alone, but he didn't stop to care about the consequences when he wanted something.

"Come here," he said suddenly. He stood up and grabbed her hand to get her up faster. "We're going inside the castle."

Inside the castle? Her eyes became wide at the anticipation. Not only that, Toya's hand was warmer than the average person's. It almost felt hot, but not too hot to burn.

Not that she would know that as she had never held anyone's hand before. Let alone a boy's hand.

She tried to keep up with him but she felt like she was going to trip over nothing. Her feet weren't well coordinated with themselves to keep up with his fast pace.

Along with her face involuntarily blushing, she somehow squeezed his hand so she wouldn't trip.

As they walked inside, they passed by the door that looked like a dungeon. Toya could hear footsteps heading down the stairs that would lead to the door. Shoto must have been trying to go see them.

Toya had spotted Shoto leaning against the window in his room and looking down at them. He obviously wanted a part in whatever was going on, but Toya wasn't planning on even letting him see Kasumi up close. It was sort of his way of saying, 'She's my friend, not yours.'

Toya pulled Kasumi along a little faster when they got to that area. He was determined to not let Shoto get any satisfaction. To his relief, they got past it before Shoto could see them.

That was Kasumi's first time inside. She gawked at how far away the ceiling was. The floors were plated with a checkered pattern of a dull grey and brown.

The window's interior had golden frames. It made her heart race. She was excited a prince was her friend - er - acquaintance.

He hadn't exactly called Kasumi his friend out loud yet, but she really felt that way about him.

The inside was so huge that their footsteps echoed around the empty hallways. It was bizarre that there was so much space, but hardly anyone around.

Well, aside from maids dusting every nook and cranny. There wasn't any dust at all to clean, but they still were cleaning. They paid no mind to the two children walking around. Toya still never let go of her hand.

This makes me want to draw a story about this. Her imagination went wild. It would involve a not-so-original story of two kids that would have cat ears.

Kasumi liked drawing herself with cat ears and a tail. Cats were her favorite animal, of course.

She wondered what fun things they would do inside. She even imagined him having his own personal playground to play in. That sounded like fun, too.

Instead, there was another young voice that caught their attention. Another girl whose hair was mostly white with a few strands of red came into their field of vision. She was also 11 years old - a year younger than Toya. Same age as Kasumi.

She gave a confused smile. "Hello. Who would this be?"

Toya scowled. "That's my acquaintance."

Kasumi lowered her eyes as she kept her hand clasped with Toya's. She pressed her lips together as her shyness was making it hard for her to even greet her in return.

She noticed the similarities.

His sister? Maybe?

Toya never really talked about his siblings. Well, he mainly bashed his other brother for being the worst. Nothing about having a sister.

Fuyumi's lips quirked to one side. She squinted her eyes suspiciously and then had to adjust her glasses. "Acquaintances don't hold hands."

"They do now," Toya argued back stubbornly.

"That isn't how it works, Toya!" Fuyumi giggled. She tried to meet Kasumi's eyes, but noticed that Kasumi had trouble returning the gesture. "What's your name?"

"Kasumi." Kasumi mumbled shyly, somehow wondering why Toya didn't let her hand go yet.

But the thing was, she didn't mind it. It felt very comforting, so it helped her talk more. "Are you Toya's sister?"

Fuyumi nodded once, adjusting her glasses again. "My name is Fuyumi. I'm glad we have a new friend around here!"

Toya simply rolled his eyes. It annoyed him that his sister seemed to try so hard to keep things peaceful. He almost wished that she would be more loud like him. "Acquaintance."

Kasumi frowned at that. She was a little more open with Toya.

Just a smidge for her to blurt out sadly and pouty, "Well, I think of you as a friend." Only to see Fuyumi smile wider towards Toya.

Toya growled. His fingers twitched slightly before tightening his grip on her hand. "I guess we can be friends."

"Really?" Kasumi's voice rose ever so slightly with a hint of happiness. Not realizing Fuyumi was studying the markings of drawings on each of their arms.

"I guess," Toya grumbled.

The more they stood by and talked, the more there was an uncomfortable feeling in Fuyumi's stomach. "Toya, you really shouldn't bring people in here, though. You know what dad will do if he sees."

"I want him to see!" Toya snapped. There was venom in his tone. "Even if he gets mad, I want him to at least acknowledge me again!"

Kasumi flinched. She had never heard Toya's voice have that tone in it before. Not only that, his hand was starting to feel hotter.

Was it really getting hotter? Was it her imagination?

She quietly listened more with a worried expression.

Fuyumi's eyes glossed over. She held her hands close to her chin in two tight fists. "He's just busy a lot. He will probably pay more attention to you when-"

"When what?!" Toya exclaimed. His hand started to get even hotter. "As long as that little moron is alive, our father will never even look at us again! He only cares about him now!"

Toya's eyes were becoming glossy too. The hatred and hurt was apparent in the way that his voice shook.

When he was younger, he didn't hate Shoto quite as much. He occasionally snapped, and even tried to harm him once, but he regretted it afterwards. As he got older, his hatred and jealousy only worsened.

"Toya, are you o-" The heat Kasumi felt against her hand worsened. It was actually burning. The more Toya was getting worked up over Shoto, the worse it got.

She felt the sting of pain that caused her to yelp. Toya felt her hand yank out of his suddenly, causing both him and Fuyumi to have surprised looks.

Kasumi became teary eyed. Her hand was slightly peeling from a second degree burn.

For a second, Toya just looked at her. There was a whirlwind of different emotions flashing through his eyes all at once. Then, with a single hiccup, tears started to trail down his cheeks.

He turned away quickly, ignoring Fuyumi to go off alone somewhere. He didn't know how to express the guilt that he felt, so he was left with an unbearable feeling inside.

Fuyumi sighed and turned her eyes to Kasumi. "He doesn't hate you, believe me. He is going through a lot right now. Come on. I'll take care of your hand, and then you should really get of here before our dad sees you."

"I'm fine- I-" Her mouth wiggled while forcing a smile. She knew it was an accident. Just by Toya's reaction, she could empathize that he was hurting.

She could understand that she could lose control of her quirk sometimes. Although, she had never seen Toya's quirk in action aside from his body smoking, and now, the burn on her hand. She knew his power had something to do with heat.

I want him to come back. It pained her heart to see him cry too. Sure, she always cried, but this was different. It was the first time Toya had shed tears around her.

Was he going to be alright?

Seeing his back turned made her want to call out for him to come back. But he was too far ahead to even hear her. She didn't have the courage to speak up.

"I'm fine, Toya." She tried to reassure, knowing he couldn't hear her.

Then she sniffled loudly. She really does cry a lot. He was right about her being a crybaby.

"I can fix it." She didn't look at Fuyumi when she said that with a cracking voice. She used her other hand to attempt to heal it.

I don't want to leave either...

She dreaded going back to the orphanage. Whenever she was with Toya, it made her days start to be fun. Well, even though he was kind of mean at times.

He finally considered her a friend. Her very first friend. She didn't want him to be sad.

Fuyumi's eyes lit up. Curiosity and wonder sparkled in her gaze. "You have a healing quirk? That's amazing!"

Usually, Kasumi would feel happy to have a compliment, but she was still feeling very sad. She felt super dizzy from fixing her hand. She wobbled a bit.

She kept sniffling hard. "...Yeah..."

Fuyumi moved to her side. She took her hand with all the tenderness that a mother would have. Even though she wasn't much older than her, she had an air of maturity about her.

Fuyumi led her to a seat in the kitchen. "Here. You can sit down while I cook something for you!"

The kitchen was certainly extravagant. It was triple the size of her orphanage's one. Again, she was looking around, but more tearfully this time.

She cooks? She didn't think someone her age would be able to. She never learned how to cook and wondered if that's someone with a family could do.

She was too naive to know about their family's complications.

She thought she was supposed to leave, but Fuyumi was too compassionate to let her go like that. Kasumi wasn't used to this type of kindness.

She was hungry, but she was also a picky eater. I hope it's good...

Still sniffling and rubbing her eyes, her thoughts kept themselves wrapped around the subject of Toya.

....

Even though she said he doesn't hate me... what if he doesn't want to see me again?

She didn't know that he was thinking about her, too. Instead of going to his own room, he went straight to the training room. He thought that maybe he could get out his frustration that way, but he could hardly activate his quirk properly.

Fire came forth from his body, but then immediately went away as his knees betrayed him. He was still just a fragile kid. The pain inside of him was far worse than the physical pain.

He cried out angrily as he tried to rub his eyes hard enough to make the tears go away. Nothing that he did could stop the sobs from overtaking him. He put his fists on the ground in front of him, stifling the aggravated scream that wanted to push its way out past his lips.

Why can't I just have what Shoto has? Why does he get the things that I want when he doesn't even appreciate any of it?! He was gasping for air at that point, completely breaking down like he had so many times before.

To make matters worse, he had hurt Kasumi. His ticket to getting his father's attention. His friend.

What if she abandons me too?

...

After Fuyumi had made Kasumi some muffins, she had her take them with her to sneak out of the castle.

Fuyumi was so very nice to her. She'd talk about how the process was with making recipes. Asked Kasumi what her hobbies were too. All that was talked about as she was leading her to the way out.

She motioned her where to go since Kasumi was practically lost.

At the exit, Fuyumi was about to part ways with her, but Kasumi had to say something.

"Thanks for the muffins and... um.." Her words failed her once more. But Fuyumi was very patient with her to speak properly. "Will you be my friend..too...?"

Fuyumi beamed at that. "Of course! I already said that I wanted to be your friend, silly!"

"Ok..." Kasumi took a glance over Fuyumi's shoulder, hoping to see Toya once more.

Of course, Kasumi felt glad to make another friend, but she hoped to say goodbye to Toya too.

But he didn't come. She had a look of disappointment that was obvious to Fuyumi.

"Bye," she said as she made her way to leave. That prompted Fuyumi to get a look of determination to go talk to Toya.

Fuyumi knew her brother well enough to know where he was probably at. She took large steps full of purpose as he went to look for him. She had to adjust her glasses every so often as she did so.

She eventually reached the training room. There, she saw Toya in a sobbing heap on the ground. Her expression softened when she saw him. "Toya..."

"Go away!" Toya practically screamed. He buried his face deeper in his hands. "I don't want to see you!"

Fuyumi flinched at his tone. "Kasumi seemed upset. I wanted you to know that she seems to care about you a lot."

"Why would she?!" Toya argued back. "I hurt her!"

Fuyumi closed her eyes for a second before taking a shaking breath. "It was an accident."

She could see that the conversation was getting nowhere. Toya was too upset to see reason just yet. It left Fuyumi feeling hopeless that she couldn't do more to stop his pain.

She had been through a lot with him. She wished she could be there for Shoto too, but, of course, that wouldn't happen. Trying to be strong was hard sometimes. She would sit on the ground with her hands covering her ears to block out the sound of angry yells and crying from both brothers. From her mother. It was a terrifying thing for her.

When Toya only continued to cry, she walked closer. She knelt down across from him and embraced him in a hug. "It's ok. I promise. She really wants to see you again."

No more words were shared between them. All Fuyumi could do was try to comfort her crying brother.

...

Another month had went by. After that incident with Toya, he made it seem like nothing had happened. He would always seem like he was really headstrong.

As for apologizing for her hand, he didn't exactly apologize for it.

It was more or less a 'you healed it so it's fine now?' type of thing. He was a bit too gruff to show any signs of guilt or sympathy. Kasumi was too oblivious to see the guilt buried beneath his eyes.

There were days Toya didn't come out at all. Kasumi didn't even know he was dealing with his inner conflicts since that had happened.

But on days Toya did come outside, Fuyumi sometimes did too.

They all would play games like pick up sticks or hide-n-seek tag.

Another one of those days had come where it had drawn out loneliness from Kasumi's heart.

She saw the girl with the bowl-cut getting adopted. She stuck out her tongue towards Kasumi in a cocky manner.

It was nice one of the bullies was leaving. It gave her that satisfaction.

But...

Will I have a family someday too? She looked at the parents taking children to leave with them.

It was always the case whenever she had moved from one orphanage to the next.

That feeling of being unwanted made her feel like no one would ever want her.

What if Toya and Fuyumi would be that way too...? Not want to be around me...?

She found herself drawing near the castle in the entrance Toya would sneak her in.

Eep. What am I doing? She felt a rush of anxiety. Was she really about to go inside without anyone else taking her?

Ok. Just... one peek...

She felt like looking inside would make her feel better and less sad. Cautiously, she popped her head inside.

"Hey. Crybaby."

Toya's face popped up directly in front of her. He moved so suddenly that it was mildly impressive he was able to even do that. When she jumped in surprise, he must have gotten his desired result, because he let out a snicker.

"Hey!" She furrowed her eyebrows in a pout. "Don't do thaaaaaat!"

She held her head to calm herself down from the small thrill of it. Her voice was mildly louder compared to her quieter tone.

"It's fun though," he argued back with a roll of his eyes. "You just get scared too easily."

She gasped in mock offense. "I do not!"

Then she blurted out a thought she had. "Were you waiting to see me?"

Toya shook his head. "No. I didn't expect you to come inside like that. I was about to go out. But you didn't see me!"

When Toya was in a good mood, he would soften up around her a little bit. He would allow himself to momentarily feel the happiness that came with her presence. It was only when he was reminded of his situation that he would really snap and change his demeanor entirely.

"Oh." She immediately believed him anyway like the gullible girl she was.

Then, she brought out her sketchbook. She moved it towards him ever so timidly. She was doing that thing again where she wouldn't speak up.

Noticing that Toya made a huff of annoyance, she then worked herself up to talk more.

Toya would always nag her about how she was a pushover and that she needed to be better at talking. Especially once they became friends.

"Um-.. do you want to read my comic?" She spoke very lowly with a wiggled smile.

Toya frowned at that. He was about to say, 'sure', but then another voice cut him off.

There was a scream coming from another part of the castle. Toya almost didn't recognize the voice, but he was able to connect the dots in his mind. It was Shoto.

Sure, he had heard Shoto scream before. But those screams were usually cut short by him trying to suppress the noise or him getting hit again to make him be quiet. Or, in some cases, the scream would give way to a series of sobs instead. That wasn't the case, though.

The scream was free of any attempt to quiet down. It was so full of anguish and desperation that it caused a strike of fear to enter Toya's heart. He didn't care about Shoto, but he was scared of whoever hurt him so terribly.

After all, his brother's attacker had to be someone inside the castle.

Shoto's quirk didn't manifest until two years ago when he was eight years old. For that reason, Enji almost gave up on him too. The only reason that he didn't was because quirks could manifest at any age. There had still been a chance that he would get his. Eventually, he did.

Life drastically changed when Shoto got his quirk. He was locked up in a separate area of the castle and no longer permitted to see his other family members. It only had worsened Enji's reign of abuse.

Occasionally, he would stand by that door when Enji wasn't around. He would wait until someone else walked by and ask them to spend time with him or to let him out. Fuyumi always apologized but was too scared to try anything. Rei, his mother, sometimes did go spend time with him.

Then there was Toya. He suddenly started hating Shoto when Shoto's quirk manifested. Whenever Shoto asked him to at least let him out to see his mother, Toya ignored him.

At first Shoto was confused. He thought that he was on good terms with his brother. He quickly came to realize that it was because Enji stopped paying any attention to Toya after Shoto got his quirk. Toya looked up to Enji, so that rejection caused him to have a deep hatred for Shoto.

Another realization that Shoto had to make was that he was in a different world than his siblings. He could never again play outside like they could. He could never again enjoy a meal with the combined efforts of his mother and sister.

When he wasn't being forced to train, he often sat by the window and watched. Fuyumi and Toya seemed to have fun outside playing with that girl whom he didn't know the name of. He could hear their loud voices and laughs from his room.

He wanted so badly to laugh with them. How fun would it be to roll around in the grass? To play tag? It seemed that, after a while, Shoto himself had forgotten how to laugh.

When Shoto was being forced to train, he wanted to play with them even more. Every bruise reminded him that he wouldn't be able to have friends ever again. It was during those times that he also learned how to perform his royal duties. That part wasn't quite as bad, but Enji still managed to make him feel scared every single time.

When his mother went to see him, things could also get bad. She tried to keep from getting caught, but more often than not, Enji found out about it. When he did, he always resorted to hitting her. Shoto tried his very best to keep her from getting hurt, even if it meant him getting hurt instead. He never expected that she would hurt him someday too.

...

Before the screaming had taken place, the queen tiptoed her way towards Shoto's room.

Rei Todoroki took the chance to see Shoto while the king was away on business.

The door quietly opened. Rei spoke in a hushed voice. "It's me, sweetie. Are you hungry?"

Shoto's eyes widened. It appeared that he was relieved, but then his expression changed to one of worry. "Is father not here?"

"He's not here. Come along. You don't need to be cooped up in there." She offered her hand towards him, hiding the small hint of anxiety in her voice.

Shoto stepped forward and took her hand. He found a little bit of comfort in the fact that Enji wasn't around. "What are you making?"

"I'll be brewing up some fresh tea along with your favorite meal. Cold soba." Rei smiled. One could tell she had bags underneath her eyes. She looked older than what she really was.

That's what stress does to someone sometimes.

She carefully walked him towards one of the many kitchens the castle had. The coast was clear, so she softly let go of his hand to make preparations.

"The maids insisted on making you some, but it's been a long time since I made you a home cooked meal." She started quietly opening the cabinets.

Shoto didn't sit down just yet. He still felt uncertain. She said that Enji wasn't there, but what if he returned? He would definitely hurt them both.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" He asked carefully.

"Yes. We'll be ok," Rei reassured, drawing water from the bronze faucet into the kettle.

Shoto finally moved to sit down. He looked down at the table. The words that he were about to say made it suddenly difficult to look at her face.

"If we're really safe doing this," he started, "Then shouldn't we try to escape?" "

She placed the kettle on the stove and tinkered with the fire to turn it on. It took a bit of adjusting, but she managed to turn it on.

"You know we can't do that." She didn't turn towards him to say that statement.

Shoto lifted his eyes to the back of his mother's head. She couldn't see it, but his eyebrows knitted together in sadness. "I hate training with him. He always hurts me. We could run away and go somewhere he can't hurt us anymore. There has to be something we can do instead of staying here."

This time, Rei didn't answer. She was still by the tea kettle. It only looked like she was watching it intently.

Shoto felt as though something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about his mother's silence that caused him to feel unsettled. Especially when the kettle began to whistle loudly.

He swallowed hard. He felt a little guilty for feeling nervous. His mother had never hurt him before, so he shouldn't have had any reason to fear. He felt especially bad because she was a victim of Enji's abuse just as much as he was. In Shoto's mind, his mother actually had it worse.

"He hurts you too," he pointed out quietly. "He's a bully. I don't want to be around people who hurt you."

Rei's eyes appeared blanked out. By that point, the kettle was whistling quite loudly.

Shoto was talking to her, but her eyes stared more at the fire beneath the kettle.

She broke out in cold sweat. Her pupils rapidly danced around as though she was lost in her own horrible nightmare.

Her breathing quickened a little bit as she felt her heart race.

Shoto stood up from his seat. He stood there for a second, unsure of what to do, and then went to her side. "Mom?"

Hearing his voice, she turned towards Shoto. Only to see his blue eye peeking beneath his red bangs.

Seeing him stare at her caused her to imagine Enji. She thought he had returned home.

She thought she was going to be beaten to a pulp again. The man never even treated her like a proper wife.

He practically raped her after she was sold off to be married to him. Her children were her comfort and joy.

She tried to love Enji, but she couldn't. Simply couldn't.

Quirks were still a bit of a mystery as the world was half populated with it. Quirk marriages hadn't become a thing until it was drawn into royalty. The generation before Enji was a quirk marriage as well. Enji himself was a product of the practice. There were success rates of promoting stronger quirks.

Those words echoed in Rei's head of how that was his only use for her.

And to dare not ruin his image. That she should be grateful she would still reside in the castle.

To not ever get in his way from what he wanted with Shoto.

"You can't tell me what to do." Her voice sounded crazed. Eyes widened in psychiatric distress, she grabbed the kettle and poured it onto Shoto's sapphire eye.

Shoto could hardly process what was going on. In the matter of a few seconds, he felt an intense pain on that side of his face. He stumbled backwards until his back hit the table.

A scream ripped itself out of his lungs. He tried desperately to push her away, but she was stronger than him. Not only that, she wasn't aware it was her son she was attacking.

He didn't understand it at the time. The one who was supposed to be his safe space was hurting him too. Both of his eyes were clenched tightly shut, but there were tears starting to appear anyway.

Rei moved herself back, realizing what she had done. "Shoto...?"

Her hands shook rapidly. His screams filled into her ears. It was so haunting to her that she shrieked herself. She didn't offer to help him.

Nor console him.

She was having a mental breakdown. She hurried out of the kitchen. Loud sobs and wails could be heard from her as she rushed by Kasumi and Toya.

Kasumi's face paled from the sound of the screaming. She didn't see Toya's face, but she moved on her own regardless.

Curiosity and fear was making her head that direction. Toya only followed behind her.

The two entered the kitchen to see the sight of Shoto.

Shoto sat on the floor then. Both of his hands were desperately holding the left side as his face as though that would do anything to help the pain. Instead of him feeling relieved that someone entered the room, his crying only became louder. A feeling of panic washed over him.

It could be Enji entering the room. He would hear his cries, and instead of offering sympathy, he would probably just roughly drag him to get medical attention. Or it could be Rei, although that wasn't likely with the way she ran out. If it was her, what would she even do? Would she try to help or only make things worse? Shoto had no way of knowing.

Toya eyed the tea kettle on the ground. There was a small amount of water spilled out onto the floor. Steam rose from the area.

He was shocked by the sight. Did mom...?

He caught sight of Kasumi going over to Shoto. He quickly moved in front of her to block her way. "Don't bother helping him. He's a nobody. Just a golden child that gets special treatment all the time for something he didn't even work for."

This doesn't look like special treatment to me. Kasumi's eyebrows furrowed. She saw that lady running out of the kitchen. Her gut feeling was that she wasn't coming back.

Usually, she would cave in and listen. Shoto's cries were making her feel guilty if she didn't help. She did have the ability to.

"He looks like he was hurt on purpose..." She nervously strained to say that only to cause Toya to scoff. She went to move around Toya, but was stopped once more.

"So what if he was?" Toya snapped back. "He deserves it. Let's just go. He won't die, so you don't have to feel bad."

His logic was twisted. He knew that she felt pity because Shoto was in pain, but he didn't care to dwell on that fact very much.

Shoto was able to determine who was in the room from the voices by that point. However, it didn't raise his hopes much. Toya was determined to not let the girl help.

Toya's words didn't convince Kasumi, though. She felt her heart race while her hands shook. She remembered all the times she had cried when she was bullied.

It wasn't bad enough to where she was in Shoto's condition, but all she wanted deep down was for someone to help her.

She was too dependent.

He needs someone to help him too.

In her comics, she always drew herself as some type of heroine. Sure, she drew herself being saved too at some moments.

In her own little world, she felt like she could be someone important.

Then there was that other feeling of listening to Toya for not wanting to upset him. She felt like crawling back into her shell, but Shoto's crying was making it difficult.

"I-I'm gonna help him." Her own eyes were tearing up. A sign of that empathy of hers.

She didn't hear Toya's grunt in annoyance due to Shoto's loud and distressed sobs. She made it towards him with her hands trembling.

Her one hand was underneath Shoto's chin and the other on the part of the injury. Well, lightly hovering over it.

She didn't know that the sight of her being near Shoto didn't settle well with Toya.

Toya didn't move at first. It bothered him, but there was still a sense of guilt regardless. Not for his attitude towards Shoto, but for the fact that he thought about pulling Kasumi away.

As Kasumi's quirk worked, Shoto's face relaxed a bit. It went from being tense with pain to a less intense expression. Eventually, he opened his eyes and looked at Kasumi.

There was still a deep sadness in his eyes, but there was also a lot of relief. One of his hands curled into a fist around the bottom part of her shirt, trying to keep her close as a source of comfort. "Thank you..."

That was what caused Toya to snap again. He rushed over and practically ripped Kasumi away from him. Shoto just watched sadly, not making too much of an effort to stop him.

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A/N: Please, don't forget to vote and comment!! I was going to draw Kasumi to show you what she looks like, but my hand hurts too much from drawing webtoons all day. ;w;

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