I Found What I Was Missing

Chapter 8: Reasons

Reasons

It was early morning when they set out to explore with a backpack of food; Mito telling them that it might take them a while to explore, and that they should go prepared.

Mito waved behind them as they set out after eating a large breakfast, both energized and excited for the adventure to come. Or so it had started, but turns out, none of them were really outdoorsy.

A sudden very loud and angry scream cut through the forest, causing birds to take flight and skittish animals to run away.
"HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY GET US LOST WITH A MAP, DEKU!!!" Katsuki screamed.

"I-I, uhm, we're not lost, Kacchan!" Izuku tried, and failed, to calm his friend down, when they were, indeed, lost.
Another angered yell, followed short by a few mild explosions, had both Shoto and Hitoshi sighing in exasperation.

"IF YOU TWO KEEP SNAPPING AT EACH OTHER IT'LL TAKE ALL FUCKING DAY!!" Denki snapped at them, electricity crawling on his skin as he yelled at the two alphas.
"Would the three of you calm down?" Tenya asked, voice holding authority as well as exasperation.

"NO!!" Denki and Katsuki yelled simultaneously at the beta.
"Cut it out!" Shoto rose his voice suddenly, brow furrowed in anger.
The four fighting friends stilled, and finally turned away from each other, and ended their squabbling.

Shoto sighed harshly, feeling annoyed. This trip would end a disaster if they continued on like this, and they haven't even found their first clue yet. Hitoshi raised his hand and raked his fingers through Shoto’s hair, knowing that it would calm the omega somewhat.

Shoto started purring softly, appreciative.
"We found it!" Ochaco yelled, waving from where she and Eijirou stood.
They stood on a large tree root that had started to grow out of the ground, smiles on their faces as they waved their friends over.

"Fucking finally," Katsuki grumbled under his breath as he started to walk in that direction; hands shoved in his pockets.
The group clambered over the tree root, and came upon a nice clearing; trees surrounding them in a near perfect circle.

"Wow," Denki mumbled as they took in their surroundings.
"So, the X is around," Ochaco stretched the word out as she took a few steps into the clearing, holding the map. "Here!" She stated, victorious.

They had followed the map to a location that had a large X on it, and it took them nearly half a day. Eijirou took it upon himself to use his hardening quirk in order to start digging. A few minutes in, he came upon a wooden box, similar to the one Izuku already had.

"Here," Eijirou said with a smile as he handed the box over to Izuku, wiping his hands on his pants.
"Thank you so much," Izuku spoke sincerely.
They all gathered around as Izuku opened the box, and found another envelope, along with a strange ring.

Izuku inspected the ring, noting that it had strange symbols carved on the inside of the metal. Sharing a look with his friends, all of them seemed just as clueless as he was. Shrugging, Izuku opened the envelope. Inside, there were two pieces of paper again.

Pulling one out, Izuku opened it to reveal another handwritten letter, though the writing seemed a little different.

Izuku,

This clearing is really special to me, it's where I spent most of my time after Killua and I separated when we were fourteen.

I trained a lot here in order to get my nen back to the way it used to be, before I threw it all away for a power boost in order to kill Pitou.