Restless Retirement

Search for a Cure

“You’re so gloomy.” Keigo’s elbow presses into his leg as he uses his fist as support for his head. He’s been staring at Tenko for a while now. He was mad when he hurt Tsunade and heard he killed his family, and still is, but Tenko is a giant mess.

“Was it an accident?” He knows it’s cruel to ask, but until he gets answers he doesn’t feel completely safe.

Tenko’s fingers dig into his thighs.

“Or did you want them dead?” He doesn’t like his parents but the thought of killing them never once crossed his mind.

“Why?”

Why? Why is he asking? Does that really need to be answered?

“Why did they die? All I did was reach out.” Tenko’s hand left his legs and he starts pulling at his hair before hitting himself in the head. “Why? Why? WHY?”

Tenko is assaulted by the memories. Everyone. Everyone crumbled away into nothingness. The images deeply engraved into his brain. Their death overlay with his other memories of them. Mon, his dog, comforting him at his side. His sister running away to tell on him. His grandparents doing nothing but watch on. His mom rushing towards him. His dad attacking him. All his memories overlap until all that’s left is the pain he’s endured and the pain he’s inflicted.

He removes his right hand from his hand to stare at it palm up. Are the bandages really enough? Is he going to destroy this place and kill these people too?

That’s twice now that Tsunade has given him even a spark of hope. Why couldn’t that hope have come from his family in the first place?

The winged boy asked if he wanted them dead. Who would want their family dead? But his dad. Tenko had been so angry that even in his desperation his dad only seem to want to harm him that for a moment he truly wanted him dead. Why? What did he ever do? Because he likes heroes?

His dad got his wish. There’s no way he could ever be a hero now. His quirk causes destruction. He can only destroy things. He can only kill things. He could never be a hero with a power like that.

More than that, what is he suppose to do now? They let him stay with them at a hotel last night but what now? Would they give him to the police? Would they label him a villain?

“Snap out of it!” Keigo snaps his fingers in front of Tenko’s face when he doesn’t respond after multiple attempts.

Tenko swats away his hand only to aggressively shoot back to the other side of the bed, looking between the boy and his own hand. Nothing happened. It’s fine.

Keigo watches each movement with sharp eyes. He couldn’t understand wanting to kill your family, if Tenko even wanted that, but he also couldn’t understand being upset over it. He doubts he would care if his parents died.

The door opens to reveal Tsunade back with a back of easy to eat foods. She passes them the bag before walking back to the door and placing a rectangular piece of paper on the door. She repeats the process on the window then to the two perpendicular walls. She’s far from a master, but she could handle that much. She’s the proud granddaughter of Mito, after all.

She eyes Keigo digging through the bag to see what she’s bought before he tries to shove food to Tenko who continues to keep his distance. He doesn’t care much for personal boundaries though and moves over to the other bed. “Eat something. Even if it’s just an apple.”

Tsunade looks warily out the window one last time before closing the curtains. The lights are more than enough to keep the room lit. She swears that she sensed someone surveilling the area. Not once but twice. She doesn’t even think it’s the same person each time. She hopes she’s wrong, but it’s also foolish to let her guard down. Especially with her big winnings last month. Some bad has come to pass but not enough to match her winnings.