Chapter Text
June 19th
10 Years Prior
Outside Shizuoka Prefecture
The sky is a dark, syrupy sort of dawn and the grass glitters with the dew that strews itself upon each viridian blade as if it's the bread of some nameless little creatures, being set out to rise under instruction of the sun.
There is no noise save for the faint song of a bird somewhere beyond the window, free within the vast and dawning sky.
The song of a bird– And the hush of feet against a tatami mat.
It is with precise, careful steps that the boy makes his way down hallways long and labyrinthine, hallways that twist and turn with what seems a malicious intent to misdirect.
The boy knows this is purposeful, that their sprawling property is riddled with empty rooms and useless doorways, and hallways that end abruptly in shelves and potted plants.
(He hates those plants, despises their waxy, plastic leaves. They're as much a lie as everything else in this house.)
But he has thrown himself, with the same intensity and passion as he trains his Quirk, into exploring every inch of the property. He has learned how to pick every lock, and relock them so that nothing seems amiss.
He has lightened his footsteps until they are noiseless, and he uses those wraithlike footsteps now as he maneuvers through the shifting shadows that seem to cling to his clothing like some silent benediction of secrecy. His clothes are simple as always, dark blues and blacks to remain unseen.
A slate-gray hat conceals his hair, which catches moonlight and gleams like a star, brilliant and white as snow.
Miraculously, the boy makes it through his parents' room without any difficulty. He unlocks the next door and slides inside, cerulean eyes running over the room like a camera lense.
It's his first time in his brother's room.
He is not impressed.
The walls are bare, there's a bed and a dresser...
Again, he is not impressed.
It looks more like a prison cell than the room of a five-year old boy.
He kneels beside the bed and shakes the little boy's shoulder, murmuring– "Wake up."
A pair of eyes blinks into view, looking drowsily up at the other boy. "Nii-san...?"
"Yeah..." The older boy offers a shaky smile and reaches up, gently running his thumb over the scar tissue surrounding his brother's eye. "Yeah, it's me. I know you don't know me real well, but I need you to listen very carefully to what I tell you. Can you do that, Shouto?"
Shouto nods sleepily, his round cheek pressing into his brother's hand the way a cat nuzzles the one petting it.
The white-haired boy's heart aches for his touch-starved baby brother.
"Right. I need you to be quiet as a mouse for me, okay?"
"Shouto's expression doesn't change. "Should I get a tail, too?"
The older boy blinks, pauses, buries his head in the mattress to muffle his laughter. He's scared out of his mind, shaking like a leaf, and Shouto is asking if he should pretend to be a mouse.
He already loves this child.
"...No, Saisho." He murmurs, lifting his head and fixing his sparkling aventure eyes on the little boy. "You don't have to be a mouse. Just sneaky, okay?"
He feels as though he's saying 'okay' too many times, that he won't appear as the daring, heroic rescuer he'd hoped to be.
But it seems Shouto is too drowsy to care, his mismatched eyes peering out with an air of idle curiosity for the brother he barely knows. "...Yes, Nii-san."
Shouto watches as his older brother moves catlike through the shadows of his room, collecting a few pairs of clothes and his backpack. He empties the school supplies from Shouto's backpack except for a few notebooks and a pack of pencils, then puts the clothes in and slings it over his shoulder.
He has a messenger bag slung across his chest, but Shouto can't imagine it's big enough to hold more than a few basic supplies.
The older boy bends down and scoops Shouto up, cradling him close as he slips through the hallways and to the door.
It would be foolish to think that the home of the Number Two Hero would be without a security system– Which is why the two boys exit into the courtyard and crawl through a crack in the outer wall.
It has been obscured by a bush until Natsu had uncovered it while searching for a soccer ball, and they'd all been too nervous to explore it. But he hadn't forgotten about it.
They make it to the woods outside the wall and the older boy laughs, a little breathlessly.
Shouto looks up at him. The little boy is clutching at something–
A stuffed rabbit.
He hadn't even noticed that his younger brother had grabbed it, but he took a moment to look over the worn, raggedy ears and slightly smushed face. "What's it's name?"
Shouto snuggles the bunny closer, a little protectively. "...Moon."
"Ah. Because of the 'rabbit in the moon' legend?"
Shouto nods slowly. He hadn't considered that before, but he feels silly saying 'no'.
The older boy continues looking at the rabbit. "Its fur is kinda weird. I've never seen a green rabbit before."
Shouto looks wholly and utterly betrayed and his brother stumbles to correct himself.
"B-but I like this one, though! It looks nice."
Shouto is quiet for a little before he tugs on his brother's sleeve. "...Nii-san."
The older boy pauses from where he's scanning the woods, trying to figure out where to go. "Mhm?"
"What's... What's your name that's not 'Nii-San'?"
...
The question, as innocent as it is, breaks his heart a little.
His own brother doesn't even know his name.
He swallows thickly before answering.
"It's Touya."
"Tou...ya." Shouto repeated slowly, as if he's dusting the cobwebs from his mind to uncover long-buried memories of the brother he'd been isolated from for so long.
Touya holds the little boy closer as they take their first steps away from the life they'd always known.
"Yeah, Baby. Touya. Your big brother. I'm gonna take care of you, y'know?"
Shouto seems to wake up a little. "Where are we going?"
Touya bites his lip, porcelain face twisting in worry. "Um... I'm not sure. But we'll figure it out! I'll keep you safe, promise."
"Why are we leaving home...?" Shouto holds Moon a little closer to his small chest.
It's already late, almost four in the morning. Touya isn't sure exactly how long they've been walking, but his arms are growing tired and he can't see their family home anymore. Touya shakes his head and grits his teeth. "It's not safe there."
There's something that swirls in Touya's gut, something that coils up like a snake, scales scratching over his stomach and making him feel sick.
What is he doing?
He didn't plan this at all.
If Endeavor were here, he'd reprimand Touya, tell him how idiotic this was, how he ought to...
But Endeavor is not here.
And that...
Is a VERY interesting thought.
Touya's eyes widen with the realization of it.
It crashes over him like a wave, like a tsunami, he's free!
Free from the constant training.
Free from the striving to please a father that will never be impressed by him.
Free.
There is only Touya and Shouto and the brilliant, open future.
Touya dances around in circles, holding loosely to a wide-eyed Shouto that clings in turn to his rabbit.
Shouto peers up at his brother, the wide and manic grin on his face. "Nii-san?"
Touya laughs.
"What d'you wanna do, Saishouto? What d'you wanna do?! We can do whatever we want! We're completely free!"
Touya spins in circles until they drop to the grass, his lean chest heaving as he gasps, breathless in delightful, dizzying excitement. He laughs manically, high on the prospect of being away from Endeavor, away from the callous indifference of his father and the cold, draining atmosphere of that horrible house.
"What about Natsu-nii and Fuyumi-Onee?"
...
Touya stops laughing.
For a moment, he ceases to breathe.
His cerulean eyes stare blankly at the sky as he struggles to speak.
"...They'll be fine. They have Mom."
Touya doesn't know how to explain to Shouto that Fuyumi and Natsuo will never be enough to sate Endeavor's powerlust. He's sure that his father won't display the same interest in training them as he did in training Touya and Shouto, and in a way, he's grateful.
He shakes his head, whipping his snow-white hair from side to side in order to clear the thoughts from his mind and dispel the nasty feeling that's lodged in the center of his chest like he swallowed something wrong, a sort of sickness that weighs on him like a shadow settling over the evening.
Touya doesn't want to think, he wants to do. He wants to go far, far away from Shizuoka Prefecture.
He sits up, blades of grass clinging to his hair and the back of his shirt. From the messenger bag slung over his shoulder, he retrieves the map that he... Borrowed from school a while back. (This is not the first time he's contemplated escape.)
Touya unrolls the map over the cool, damp grass that beads with early morning dew, studying it with the focus of a boy whose very life depended on finding the next location.
And in a way, it did.
Shouto, still nestled securely in Touya's lap, examines the map as well. He can read most of the names, though the places all look the same to him.
To the older brother, however, the dull blue dots on the map are a constellation, stars that point the way to a brand new life. Touya's gleaming aventure eyes land on one particular point, not too far away.
Just far enough to hide.
"I think this sounds good," Touya points for Shouto to see. "What do you think?"
Shouto nods silently, wide eyes fixing on his older brother's face. His rabbit's head flops back and forth as if in affirmation, clutched tight in Shouto's small hands.
"All right, then! Kamino Ward it is."