Rough Hands - A T.ShigarakixReader Story

Kappa.

You can't remember his face. You just remember the gifts. The books upon books he gave you whenever he visited your Mom. At first you'd heard him insisting to your Mom that he didn't want to waste money on toys that you'd grow out of instantly like the other kids. He wanted you to have something you'd treasure. Something you'd carry with you forever.
And you had.
Every single book you'd been gifted by that man, and the others had travelled with you even when Mom had to leave the big house. Mom had complained about the weight of them all, but you threw a tantrum until you got your way.

"Hey little Y/N." The man with the blurry face says, ducking down to ruffle your hair as you read one of your books.
You pay him no mind, your attention in the world you were reading about. A place filled with fairies and mythical creatures that you wanted to reach into the pages and pet.
"You like that one, huh?" He asks, and you can feel his body shifting to sit beside you. "Lets read while my friends sort something out inside, eh?"
You side eye him.

You'd never feared him before. He'd always been gentle with you even when he was yelling at Mom or the others, or getting his friends to make them scream. He'd always make sure you were out of the way and distracted. He didn't care about the other children though, you'd heard stories about what his friends had done. You'd noticed your friends and their moms going missing whenever his friends were called out.
"Is Mommy okay?" You ask hesitantly.
"Your mom's fine." He reassures. "What's this?"
You look at where his pointed finger is, his fingertip obscuring the face of a Kappa.

"That's a Kappa, sir." You reply. "They take children away at sea."
"Sounds scary. Did you read that they do that?"
"Yep." You reply, popping the 'p'.
"You get smarter every time I see you, little Y/N." The man praises, his hand moving to your hair to ruffle it again.
You jump the second you hear screaming coming from inside the house, your head instinctively turning to look at the building behind you, letting out a little whimper when the hand bunches up in your hair.
"Don't look over there, Y/N." The man warns. "We're reading remember?"

You turn your head, purely out of the fear that he'd never laid a hand on you before, and they weren't exactly a kind touch.
"Good girl." He praises. "Now tell me all about Kappas. What have you learned?"
You begin to try and tell him everything you learned about Kappas from the book, reciting the lines off by heart because you'd read it so many times before as he hums and looks at you intensely.
A loud bang rings out followed by another collective scream and you begin to panic again.
"No need to worry little Y/N." The man coos, pinching your cheek. "As long as you and your mom keep being good, nothing will happen to you."

You can only look at him in horror as he stands up, looking down at you with unrecognisable eyes.
"Have you learnt anything new with your Quirk yet?" He asks.
His face is distorted in your dream, but for some reason, your head tells you that he's expectant. Like he wants a specific answer from you. Alas, this was simply replaying a memory from your childhood.
"No sir." You reply politely like your Mom had taught you. "Just that I get hurt when I heal other things. Mommy says I can't do it anymore."

He looks down at you for a couple seconds longer before giving a displeased huff.
"I'll have a little chat with your Mom about that." He says simply before walking away, back into the building where the loud bang had come from.
That's not what had scared you though.
What had scared you was the promise of the man talking to your Mom. Mom was terrified of him.
"Please don't!" You shout, ignoring the advice your Mom had given about talking to the man. "I promise I'll learn!"

You grip onto his leg as if that would ever stop him from dragging you all the way to your Mom anyway.
You knew you were most definitely not allowed to touch the man, but you'd rather be hurt instead of your Mom. Mom had told you that her healing wasn't as strong as yours, and you knew from the last time the mean man had hurt her that she needed to sleep a lot to heal it all.
"Get off me, Y/N." He warns.
You close your eyes and grip onto him tighter. You'd seen him kick the other kids before. You could handle that.

"Y/N." He says, crouching and gripping your hair tight again to pull your face away from his pants leg. "Look at me."
You open one eye slowly.
"Your Mommy is slowing you down by not letting you learn. You want to learn don't you, honey? You don't want to be like Mommy right? Living in one room of a massive house with other whores?"
You don't even know what that word means, but you'd heard him spit it at the other women time and time again.
"You want to be better than that, right, Y/N?" He asks, that feeling of expectancy washing over you again.

"I'd like to have my own room..." You muse.
"Good, then let me talk to your Mom." He sighs, gripping your arms to pull you off.
"But, Mommy says I can't use it because I get hurt. I have a big big scar on my back because I helped a birdie." You protest. "Mommy doesn't want me to get hurt."
He looks down at you. A look that had made the child version of you uncomfortable but now, as an adult, you could look back and see it was a look of pure derision.

"Y/N. The world is pain. If you want to succeed, you have to hurt sometime or the other. Your Mom is ruining you."