火と氷とわたしたちを結びつける約束(of fire, ice, and the promises that bind us)

Prologue

Todoroki Shouto is born on the eleventh of January. He is tiny, pale, and quiet. Too quiet.

His birth takes place in an empty cold hospital room. Surrounded by faceless medical staff whom neither of his parents will bother to remember.

His breaths come in quick, rattling puffs, and his tiny limbs looked as though they could break under the slightest pressure.

But all Rei can think as she gazes at his sweet face is that he is her son. Her sweet little Shouto.She traces the bridge of his nose. Just like all her other children, he's beautiful.

He's hers.

"I will protect you," Rei swears it on her heart, "I promise."

The new contractions hit her quickly, sending waves of shock threw her body. She had known she was having twins, but she hadn't expected for the second child to come so soon.

Or for it to be so painful.

Unlike the last one, this birth is quick. Shrieks fill the air, loud, insistent, and squalling. Strong lungs, she notes for no reason in particular.

Todoroki Seika is born on the eleventh of January. She is tiny, red-faced, and loud.

Rei knows that He, she shivers, is right outside the door. Listening.

She takes the baby in her arms, set on protecting her daughter from this monstrous husband of her's, and—

And—

It feels wrong.

The baby doesn't settle in her arms, refusing to be calmed or quieted by her mother's touch. She screeches, tiny fists clenched and flailing. Her eyes fly open, and Rei sees the spark in her heterochromatic irises, the spark she hadn't seen in Touya's until he was at least a year old. The spark He so longs for in his offspring.

A spark that Natsuo and Fuyumi did not have.

Ears ringing, Rei watches numbly as He walks in. Heart hammering as He picks up her baby. Her mind races as he smiles, just a small quirk of his lips, lips that move to say S-E-I-K-A. The name he had chosen if one twin were to be a girl.

(she wanted to name her Fuyuko, her winter child, she hadn't got a choice)

And—

Oh.

She holds the girl. She holds her close, and wishes desperately that this child had never been conceived, because how can Rei save the one He has already claimed? He makes it clear that this time, the child is his. Seika is his. And Rei...

Well.

At first, she flares with defiance. She devotes everything she has to all her children, to both twins, spending all her waking hours with them, keeping them close.

But time passes, and personalities develop.

Shouto, her beautiful Shouto, is almost as quiet as the day he had been born. His touches are soft and his hands are cold, he's hers.

Seika is quiet too, but in a different way. Her eyes are constantly narrowed, even at her tender age of three. Watching, searching, piercing.

(wrong, wrong, wrong)

Seika is a demanding child (Fuyumi has never been so difficult).

Seika is sharp, her smile and her words already a watered-down reflection of her father's (Natuo is still soft, smiles gentle and bright).

Seika is blazing like the sun, personality painful and unforgiving (Touya can barely hold a flame for a few seconds before he bursts into a coughing fit).

Seika...

Is not her's.

Too sharp, too warm, wrong.

She may have bore Seika, but she has known from the moment the child was born that she wasn't hers. Not the way Fuyumi, Natsuo, Shouto, and Touya are. She realizes this on a day like any other, dropping the comb she had been holding, and she cries for a while.

She is truly a horrible mother, isn't she? A mother who can't even stand to look at her own daughter, fearing that it will remind her of her despicable husband. Holding Seika for the first time hadn't felt right, but she had been warm. Something that filled the ache in her chest. Why had that changed?

Her guilt only grows as she watches the twins play. They adored each other, big innocent eyes wide with glee. Tiny bodies curled around each other like yin and yang.

In another world, Shouto is born alone. He is fair-skinned and contemplative. Eyes bright with determination. He is kind.

In this world, Seika looks at her brother's soft, round face, her very reason for existing, and promises to protect him till the end of time.

Because Shouto is far too kind, so in a bizarre twist of fate, Seika decides she will be strong (she will be cruel) for the both of them.

A/N

*Seika - 聖 means "sacred."　火 means "fire." Todoroki - 轟 (轟く: todoroku)" means "A loud noise sounds and crackles." and it's often used for thundering expressions. Therefore Todoroki Seika roughly translates to "Sacred Fire Boom."

Soo, this is my second fanfic.

To be frank, Rei is not my favorite character. However, I think she tried her best in an awful situation, and even if the author of BNHA tried to make her this perfect mother that Shouto could put on a pedestal (until the burn anyway), I find her much more human in the way she clearly isn't perfect at all. So, yeah. I hope I was able to convey that instead of just outright making her seem like a terrible mother for no reason.

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Enjoy :)