The Wise Child (BNHA x OC)

23. This Isn't Right

Shoto

Crying. It had become so normal to hear in the house. At least when our father was away. Whether it be Natsu's muffled sobs in Touya's old room, or the ones hidden in our mother's old garden, where Fuyumi sat, or even the loud angry ones that Yae had to which our father now referred to as her 'episodes'.
           This time it was Fuyumi's muffled cries that drew me near. She was hidden by a bush of yellow chrysanthemums. I remembered the name from when my mother once spent an hour pointing out each plant in her garden, and talking of them in great detail. It felt wrong to see what was once a place protected and sacred, had become a home of mourning. I almost felt angry that Fuyumi was found crying there. That it was an abolishment of the good our mother had tried to breed while in its grasp.
           But I knew that it was because of me that she hid there. Because she didn't want me to hear her crying.
           Slowly, I crept towards her, my balance unclear, it was still hard adjusting to seeing with one eye, the bandage still pressed firmly on my skin. If she weren't so upset she surely would have noticed my clumsy approach, but her head jolted when I placed a hand on her shoulder.
           She wiped her eyes quickly and weaved a smile onto her face.
           "Sho-shoto what are you doing here?" her voice shook, and her eyes were bleary, but she refused to let more tears free.
           I gulped, holding the edge of my shirt, "Why are you crying?"
           Her hands shook as they pulled her hair out of her face, and her smile faltered for a moment before she forced it back on, tighter, painful. "It's just allergies sweetie." I wanted to believe her, but her eyes moved towards her ankle, and I saw the red burned skin on it. Yae.
           "She didn't mean to," Fuyumi said quickly, pulling her skirt so it covered it better.
           I slowly moved to sit, "Why does she do it? Why does she hurt you?"
           Fuyumi looked at me hard in the eyes, as if she thought she could tell me something just through her gaze, "Don't blame her. Okay? She lost Mom, and Dad is... it's not her fault."
           It sounded like she was attempting to reassure herself as well.
           "What if she does it again?"
           "She won't. Dad's taking her to see someone, he says they'll fix her. And she'll be the same as before. She's just lost right now. We all are." After a moment she managed to mutter, "I am too."
           "But you don't hurt people."           

***

           I never knew hatred until I looked into the eyes of my father. Or at least, that's what I used to believe. But over time I came to the understanding that it wasn't hatred that drove him, no it wasn't that simple. It was pride. My father was a slave to his own ego.
           But when I looked at Yae, and watched her from across the field, I knew that she was driven by an icy cruelty different from his. She was a caged beast willing to hurt anyone who came in her way. It wasn't cruelty or pride that forced her forwards, but madness.
           It was almost pitiful, until you remembered what that madness drove her to do.
           "Three," Midnight called, the stadium having gone silent as if all of them knew that it wasn't an occasion to be celebrated, but something fated. Something that needed to happen.
Perhaps if I won, she would leave. Our father would take her from this school, and away from the people she would inevitably hurt along the way.
           "Two."
           No, I couldn't just win, I had to destroy her. If I broke her her sharp edges would cut others, like they so often would. I had to crush her.
           "One."
           She didn't wait, not even a moment, before her ugly ice crawled its way towards me. There was something wrong with it. The way that when the sunlight hit it looked red.
           I raised a hand and sent a spike of ice to meet it, catching it and crushing it only a few feet from me. I moved quickly running forwards to meet her. That was my mistake with Midoriya. I had let him fight me from far away. Perhaps he deserved the withdrawn assault but she didn't.
           It was personal.
           She tried to stop me, she sent another wave towards me, one that I easily avoided. In her desperation she started to use small spikes instead, sending the sharp objects flying past.
           I stalled only briefly as one grazed my arm, leaving a red line running from it.
           That was the least of my worries. Her anger would certainly manage worse. I had seen what she managed without cause, I could only imagine what she would do if she had it.
           Her feet remained planted, her eyes were wide, there was a strange look in them. They were crazed, yes that was it. She didn't want to move because she wanted it to become a fist fight. She wanted it to be brutal and hungry.
           Well, she would get her wish.
           I dodged the last of her attacks, a crystal that was a good few inches from hitting my leg, and sent forwards a large wall her way.
           She moved away from it. Good I wanted her to.
           It needed to be a win without any doubt, any hesitancy.
           She slowly moved forwards, farther from the edge of the arena. Her legs were uncertain, shaking, but she did so regardless. I waited for her to make the first move, but she didn't. She watched and mirrored my stance.
           She must have wanted me to move first and prove my attacks weak by easily maneuvering them.
           I would ensure she couldn't dodge.
           I ran forwards and sent a punch for her face, watching as she nimbly dodged, but just barely.
           She landed in a flimsy stance. I didn't hesitate to send a kick to her legs, but I was obvious with it, and wasn't surprised when she got out of the way. While she avoided me her eyes were drifting all over the place, it was strange.
           But I ignored it and sent a fake fist back at her, watching as she jumped back, only to meet her on the other side with a kick to the abdomen. She clutched it and stumbled away, her feet nearing the white line.
           She finally moved, making for a kick to my ankles, but I sent a fist towards her abdomen again, and she clutched it hard, her breathing stopping momentarily. Before she could catch her breath I swept her legs out from under her, a grim satisfaction at the loud thump that echoed from her body hitting the floor.
           Yae quickly pushed her hands up behind her and began crawling away, as if she were scared.
           I leaned down and grabbed her by the collar, moving to shove her over the edge of the arena when I heard her speak.
           It was a small, terrified, "No."
           It felt so familiar. It was like when she was young when she was... when she was still my sister.
           "No-no," her voice was trembling as she struggled to move away from me. This was it. This was my time to force her to lose, but... I couldn't.
In my moment of hesitance her eyes sharpened, and she grabbed my wrist in her hand, and with a much deeper voice she demanded, "No."
           I was suddenly pushed harshly away, the breath knocked out of me, as a large acidic wall of ice separated the both of us.
           I held my breath, feeling my heartbeat in my ears, watching, waiting, terrified, when she emerged. There was a smile on her face. She was laughing. It sounded horrifying, unnatural, and she stared at me with what could only be described as pure acid.
           Before I could think to move she was an inch from me, holding me up before slamming me to the ground.
           "You won't take this from me."