Winter (Bnha Fic)

5: Didn't They Tell You?

"This disrespect will not go unpunished." Endeavor roared. Shoto was clutching his knees and sobbing, a burn blooming on his right shin. "If you act like that in battle you wont last a second. You didn't listen to what I told you to do so you got burned, that's how this works. Why can't you understand something so simple?!". 

Fuyumi was peaking through a gap in the door, horrified at what was unfolding before her eyes. "What's goin on?" A voice called out behind her. Fuyumi turned around so quickly she nearly slipped. In a panic, she covered Natsuo's mouth, eyes turning back to the door in fear. Their father continued to berate the youngest meaning he hadn't heard either of them. 

"Go." Fuyumi said sternly, eyes not leaving the door to the training room. Natsuo whined but the oldest shook her head and pointed to the other end of the hallway with her free hand. A floorboard creaked inside the room and that was all the convincing Natsuo needed to run down the hallway like someone was chasing him. 

 The door didn't open, but the sound of flames crackling became louder as Endeavor's voice became distorted. 

The whole situation made Fuyumi wonder if she was really cut out to be a hero. She had been training or months now, almost a whole year, yet here she was. Hiding. Like the coward she was. 

'I can't let him hurt Sho again.' The ten year old repeated in her head, shaky hands gripping the sliding door's handle. Finally, she threw the door open. 

"What are you doing here?" Her father demanded, the flames covering his face looking darker and hotter than usual. Shoto still hadn't stopped crying and had started to cry out for Fuyumi upon knowing she was in the room. 

"Y-you're hurting him..." She said, her words losing confidence as she stuttered them out. After their 'fight' she was terrified what her father might do to her if she got in the way again. Enji barked out a laugh. "How else do children learn? It looks like you could use a lesson too. You all seem to take me for a joke!". 

Fuyumi subconsciously started shaking her head 'no'. "Not a joke, I just don't want you to hurt h-him. He's crying." She insisted, feeling every bit a mouse before a cat. 

That particular remark was rewarded with a harsh slap across the face. Fuyumi stumbled back into the wall, using all the willpower her training had given her to hold back tears. They burned in her eyes but she wouldn't let them fall. She wouldn't. 

Enji glared and walked right past her, probably to the outdoor training space. Once he was gone Shoto ran up to his sister, wobbly and limping from the burn, and hugged her, sobbing. 

"Its okay, Shoto." She said, her voice wavering "We're gonna be okay.". 

----- ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- ------ ------ ----- 

She needed help. They needed help. 

Fuyumi was a very stoic child. She didn't usually cry, didn't usually complain, didn't do much of anything serious. But this was the final straw. 

After getting burn cream and some cold water for Shoto she took him to sleep in Natsuo's extra bed, the one that used to belong to Touya when they were little. She didn't sleep that night, opting to take her pillow and lean against the door until she heard their father leave for his patrol shift before dawn.

Her next move was to get dressed and go to her training session. It was the only way she could think of to get help. 

Imagine Sasaki's surprise when instead of the sleepy yet cheerful student he usually had, Yumi arrived in tears. That wasn't all though. She looked pale, a sickly sort of colour with dark circled like black eyes. The worst of it had to be the bruise on her cheek. Fresh, purple and ugly. It had to be incredibly painful. 

"Yumi, what?" He said, shocked beyond words. The ten year old didn't speak, just threw herself into him so she could cry silently into his blazer. "Its okay." The hero said awkwardly "Just-take your time?". He sounded unsure of himself, but what else was he supposed to do? 

They stood like that for a good three minutes before either moved. Finally, Fuyumi pulled herself away from the damp patch she had left on her mentor's dress shirt and wiped her eyes.

"I need help." She croaked "Its gotten so much worse, he's gonna hurt Sho really badly if I don't stop him.". Nighteye was confused, but at that point he could make the connection that this 'Sho' she was talking about was most likely the boy he has seen in her future. 

"Yumi, who is he? How can I help?" He asked, trying his best to do his duty as a pro hero and protect this girl. Apparently teaching her how to protect herself wasn't enough. Whoever this man that posed a threat to Yumi's family was, he must be strong, powerful or both. 

"He's-" Her voice died in her throat. What was she doing? Rule number one was don't tell anyone. That no one could know. Ever. If she told him, she'd be separated from her brothers forever, they'd lose the house and with it every memory of Touya it held. She couldn't do that. Not to them, not to herself. What happened when her mom came back from the hospital only to see them scattered to the four winds. She wouldn't be able to find them. 

But at the same time, the immediate danger was mounting. If Fuyumi couldn't stop the violence towards Shoto now, their father could easily hurt him in a way that couldn't be fixed. She had always been suspicious of what really happened the night Touya died....what if-

She stopped herself there, unable to think about it anymore. At the end of the day, it was crystal clear that they needed help and needed it now. She wouldn't be able to physically protect them properly even if something really bad did happen. They needed heroes for that. They needed Sir. 

Right as the girl opened her mouth to speak, a voice rang out behind her. "Fuyumi?!" It called, sounding like a middle aged man's voice. But it wasn't her father. 

Quickly she turned around and saw Mr. Iida running towards them. She had met him several times at parties and although they didn't know each other well he was always friendly. 

She looked at her mentor with fearful eyes. "Don't tell him." She pleaded, her legs itching to run and leave before the man could reach them. "Please don't tell him anything about me or our training. Please-".  Before she could finish she realized she'd have to go now if she was going to escape this situation. 

Sasaki watched with bewilderment as his student ran away and the man, looking furious aproached him. He wanted to ask. He wanted to ask this random man who seemed to know this girl who she was, why she had come to him and what dangers she was facing. But he didn't. He had to honor her wish to remain anonymous. 

It didn't take long to explain to the man that he was a pro hero after he showed him his license. He lied and said the girl approached him randomly and seemed injured, just in case he had seen the bruise on the ten year old's cheek. The man dropped it after that, citing that he'd have to call her mother and ask if everything was alright. 

Sasaki couldn't help but wonder why, if this man knew Yumi, he didn't know her mother had gotten sick and ended up in the hospital. At least that's what the girl had said a couple times when he asked about her parents. 

He decided to ask her when she came to the next training session, hoping to get some more straight answers out of the girl or at least a last name so he could get social services involved. 

But Yumi never came to another training session. 

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Get ready for the timeskip that's about to happen in chapter 6. We're going all the way from 10 year old Fuyumi to 14 year old Fuyumi. 

Finally we reach the going to U.A part in the next chapter! 

Stay Tuned!