Bruised And Broken

Tsukauchi Arrives

When they arrived back home, Todoroki was still smiling. Yuki was held in his arms, purring soothingly.

"You definitely are a cat person." Aizawa remarked with a tiny chuckle.

"Mhm..." Todoroki agreed softly.

"Remember, Detective Tsukauchi is coming over for some last questions this afternoon." Aizawa added, checking his watch. "Oh crap, I better make lunch now!"

"Let's get Yuki's stuff ready." Hizashi smiled as his spouse hurried off into the kitchen to prepare food.

"Okay." Todoroki agreed. He knelt down, letting the cat jump to the floor. She miaowed happily, bounding around to explore the living room.

"C'mon." Hizashi led the teen to a closet, opening it to reveal cat supplies. There was a soft blue bed, a water and food dish, and a scratching post.

"She'll sleep in your room." Hizashi concluded. Yuki's purpose was to be Todoroki's emotional support animal anyways.

"Thank you." The corner's of the teen's twitched upwards. "For letting her stay."

"Of course, bud." The blonde grinned, grabbing the cat supplies and marching into Todoroki's room.

The navy-blue bed was laid in a bare corner, the scratching post in the opposite one. A small mat was placed on the ground, and the food and water dish was placed on top.

"There we go!" Hizashi said, stepping back.

"It looks nice." Todoroki commented gratefully.

"Lunch!" Aizawa called from the kitchen. The two met him there, perching on the kitchen island and stuffing sandwiches down quickly. Tsukauchi would be here ang minute; they had spent longer at the cat cafe then they intended too.

A few minutes later, the doorbell sounded. The cheerful melody made Aizawa groan and cover his ears.

"I don't see why we couldn't have my choice of sound for the doorbell." He complained as he moved to open it.

"You wanted a recording of yourself saying 'an annoying person has arrived. Ignore them.'" Hizashi retorted, laughing.

Aizawa just sighed, opening the door to reveal Tsukauchi.

"Detective." The ravenette greeted.

"Aizawa." Tsukauchi returned, bowing his head respectively. "This shouldn't take long than 15 minutes."

"Come in." Aizawa welcomed him, leading him down to the living room where Hizashi had situated Todoroki. The teen looked uneasy sitting on the sofa, wiping his sweaty palms.

"Geeze, Shoto. He isn't going to torture you!" Hizashi laughed, trying to lighten the atmosphere. He could tell it was not working, so he sat next to the teen and put a hand on his knee.

"Hello, Shoto Todoroki." Tsukauchi greeted when he entered, Aizawa coming in seconds later.

"Hello detective." Todoroki returned as Aizawa sat on his left side. Yuki bounced in, sensing her owners discomfort, and jumped onto the teen's lap.

Todoroki smiled down at her, running a hand through her fur once before looking back up.

"So, we pretty much covered the history of the abuse last time. Today, I will be asking you of the incident that landed you in hospital." Tsukauchi explained. "Of course, I will be collecting other witnesses' statements, but as the victim, yours is the priority."

"O-okay." Todoroki agreed, clasping his hands together to hide the nervous tremors. He did not feel like reliving that.

"Okay, so, can you start from the moment you got home from school?"

"Y-yeah." Todoroki said. "I was injured in an exam that day- my father had to come collect me. He wasn't very happy with that. When we got back, my sister made me go to sleep. I don't know how long I was asleep but I woke up to Fuyumi s-screaming something. T-then father came a-and told me we h-had to train-"

"It's okay, take your time." Aizawa murmured softly.

"O-okay. S-so as I w-was going to the t-training room Natsuo and Fuyumi b-begged me not to train. B-but Endeavor-" Todoroki cut off to wince for a second. "He w-would hurt them instead so I d-didn't listen."

The teen to a deep breathe, stabilising his emotions before continuing.

"H-he told me to fight him. I had been injured earlier, so I w-wasn't in the right state to t-train. He kept punching and k-kicking me repe-repeatedly, and stamping on m-me with his boots, and then th-threw me into the w-wall. Th-then he dr-dragged me down to the b-basement and lo-locked the door."

"That's all I need." Tsukauchi smiled warmly. "Well done, Shoto."

"You did great, kid." Aizawa said, pulling the teen in for a hug. Todoroki accepted the embrace willingly, trembling hands clutching the back of his guardian's sweater.

"I"ll be taking my leave now." Tsukauchi announced, standing up. Hizashi accompanied the detective to the front door.

"I'll see you and Aizawa in court on Monday?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Yep! As I'm sure your aware, Shoto isn't going." Hizashi confirmed, opening the door for the other man.

"Take good care of that poor kid. God knows he deserves it." Tsukauchi said, stepping outside. "Goodbye."

"Bye!" Hizashi waved energetically and closed the door. He then made it back to the living room, where Todoroki was pressed up against Aizawa's side. The ravenette had an arm around the boy and Yuki was purring happily on his lap.

"Good job, little listener." Hizashi grinned and plopped down on the sofa next to Todoroki. The teen gave a small smile, looking thoroughly drained.

"Wanna watch another movie?" Aizawa asked in a soft tone.

"No thank you." Todoroki said quietly.

"Is there anything you'd like to do?" Hizashi questioned gently.

"Can we just sit?" The teen asked, looking frazzled.

"Of course." Aizawa agreed, tugging the boy closer. Hizashi joined in their hug, one hand petting Yuki.