🎐

School had ended a week ago, and something called "summer break" had begun. Kazumi didn't understand what it was for. But when he had asked his coffee-addicted guardian, he was told it was for a break. A break, for relaxing. Something, a feeling Kazumi wasn't used to. Summer camp would happen next week, and of course, the poor Uchiha was forced to tag along.

For now, though, he was walking to the Todoroki residence. Ever since he had agreed to train Shoto, Midoriya had begged him to do the same for him, and Bakugou had demanded and threatened he also spar with him. So Kazumi was forced to alternate between houses all week.

So much for relaxing.

Aizawa had been reluctant to let Kazumi go out alone, but he was pretty sure that the man trusted him a lot more now. He had just given Kazumi a rectangular disk called a phone and told him to call him if anything happened. 

Now, Kazumi was standing before the Todoroki household, its design was old-fashioned and traditional, and he found himself remembering the Hyuga Compound looked something similar to this place.

Shoto was standing at the front gate, when he caught sight of Kazumi he stiffly waved.

"Hello. Thank you for coming all this way."

"It's alright. Shall we?"

They entered, greeted by a beautiful stone garden bamboo trees, and a pond teeming with koi. The house was beautiful, the design intricate yet simple. But despite the beauty of it all, Kazumi couldn't help but feel how cold the place felt. Void of any warmth and comfort.

Kazumi was taking off his boots when a woman rounded the corner. She was really pretty and bore a striking resemblance to Shoto's left side.

"Ah-! Shoto! You should've told me we were expecting a guest!" She said, seeming a little embarrassed.

"Pardon the intrusion," Kazumi said, offering a small but respectful bow.

"Oh, no need to be so formal! I'm Todoroki Fuyumi, Shoto's older sister! You must be Shoto's friend...Uchiha-san?"

"It's nice to meet you, Fuyumi-san. Yes, I'm Uchiha Kazumi," He said, throwing a questioning look at Shoto, who, of course, only replied with a blank stare,

"Shoto talks about you all the time! I'm so glad to meet you finally! I'm sure you guys have some important things to do right? Go ahead you two, I'll have dinner ready when you're done!" She was all smiley and happy, if they didn't look alike, Kazumi would never believe they were related.

"Dad isn't coming home tonight, so we can have dinner...together!" Kazumi didn't miss the way Fuyumi's smile became forced, nor did he miss the tensing of Shoto's shoulders at the mention of their father.

They bid their goodbyes to Fuyumi and Shoto led him to the dojo in their house. It was a spacious room, with tatami floors and high ceilings.

"The walls and floors of this room are fireproof so we can go all out."

"Hn. No. We'll start with improving your hand-to-hand first. You rely too heavily on your ice quirk. We want to prevent something like your match with Aizawa from happening again," Kazumi threw off his Akatsuki cloak, leaving him in his black, skintight turtleneck, a symbol of the Uchiha crest adorned in red in the back, he wore loose black military pants.

"Come at me," He said, bending his knees, lowering into a combat stance.

Shoto wasted no time, immediately rushing in for a jab. He aimed at Kazumi's face, putting his all into his fist. Kazumi, of course, caught it blow with his hand, his eyes weren't even open. Shoto faltered, freezing up for a second.

"Hn. You throw too much force into the first punch. It leaves you completely open for a counterattack. See?" He struck Todoroki's side for emphasis, and he fell over, holding his bruised side gingerly. But he stood back up.

"Again."

And it went like that for a while. They sparred, Kazumi instructing him, striking him. Shoto would fall but would get back up. Kazumi started noticing their matches getting longer and longer.

"Enough."

"Now we'll work on strengthening your core. Drop down and give me 50 push-ups."

"50 more."

"Now sit-ups."

"Take a break, we're training your fire next," Kazumi left the room, leaving Shoto on the ground. Fighting to catch his breath, he panted.

When he returned, Kazumi had a glass of iced water in his hand. He handed it to Shoto, who took it gratefully, taking greedy gulps.

"Thankfully your stamina is good. We've been going at it for a while now. Next, we'll train your fire, watch carefully," Kazumi stood up, and did the hand signs for the Fireball Jutsu. Blowing out the fire, he let it surround them, the heat of the flames licking gently at Shoto's face.

He'd always been afraid of fire. It was a fire that his father used to beat him, it was a fire that had driven his mother to insanity, it was a fire that killed Touya. He always hated it, deep down he feared his fire.

But he never knew flames could look so beautiful, so mesmerizing. But most of all, he didn't know someone could look so ethereal wielding them.

"Fire is a difficult affinity to control. Luckily, fire is my nature, my strength."

"Fire is easily spread, that's why it can be dangerous," Using his Sharingan, he summoned up a small Amaterasu flame, letting it rest above the palm of his hand.

"But just as easy it is to get out of control..." He closed his fist, deactivating it.

"Fire is easily snuffed out."

Shoto watched the peculiar black flames that Kazumi controlled, he'd never seen a flame such a color before. Of course, the fire he wielded was a blazing red, sometimes Endeavor's fire burnt yellow or even white, he'd even seen blue flames, briefly in his faint memories of his older brother, Touya, but never black flames.

"You must tame it. As wild as it may be."

"And how will I do that?"

"Well, first...you have to accept the fire...as your own."

The rest of the training was just plain, grueling quirk control. Kazumi had Shoto spread his fire around the room, but he had to control his flames so that they wouldn't spread elsewhere. He also had him control fire at a further distance, which turned out not to be Shoto's forte.

Yet by the end of the day, Kazumi was quite happy with his progress.

"You did well," He praised, the youngest Todoroki looked away, the tips of his ears flushed. He wasn't used to being commended, words of praise felt so foreign to his ears.

"...thank you for teaching me," He mumbled out, letting go of his selfish pride. "You're...a better mentor than I expected."

"Naturally."

The two walked, side-by-side to dinner. Stumbling on his feet as they dragged on, Shoto careened to the floor. Saved by Kazumi's arm, who pulled him close, he stayed upright.

"Sorry...I must've gone too hard on you..."

"I-It's alright...I'm just a little bruised. It's my first time-"

Fuyumi who had been listening to the conversation with no context around the corner dropped the plastic cup in her hand. Mouth ajar, she stared at the two teens in shock.

"-training with you after all...Fuyumi! You dropped the cup," Shoto's sentence fell on deaf ears as Fuyumi stared at the two, dazed.

"As long as you use protection, go off I guess..." She turned and left, abruptly. It took Shoto about 30 seconds to process it, before his face broke into a furious blush. Realizing how wrong the conversation had sounded, their intimate position, with Kazumi's bare arm wrapped around his waist...he was embarrassed.

"Huh...? What the hell did she mean by that?" Kazumi—ever the airhead and idiot—hadn't caught what the older girl had said, much to Shoto's relief.

"Ah-...uh—yeah, I don't know, let's just go to dinner."

And so, an awkward dinner in the Todoroki household ensued.

🎐

Rudely awoken to the sound of his alarm, Kazumi groaned. The weather was especially hot that day, yet he dragged himself out of bed and got dressed in another turtleneck, only this time sleeveless. Bidding goodbye to Aizawa who wasn't even awake yet, he left and made his way to the Bakugou household.

Kazumi didn't have to double-check that he'd got the location correct because he could hear the loud blonde's voice when he stepped near the house.

"SHUT UP YOU OLD HAG! IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL STOP MAKIN' A FUSS ALREADY!" But what surprised Kazumi the most was the equally loud voice that shouted back.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU CALL ME, YOU LITTLE BRAT?"

Walking up to the door, Kazumi calmly pressed on the doorbell, hearing it faintly ring on the other side of the wall, he waited politely, his hands by his side. To his surprise, when the door opened, he wasn't greeted by an explosive blonde, but a kind-looking brunette with glasses. Surprise was written on his face as he took in the teenager ahead of him.

"Uh...How may I help you?" He asked, nervously trying to drown out the screaming that continued elsewhere in the house.

"I'm here for Katsuki?"

"Ah, you must be the classmate he talked about, come on in!" He smiled, lifting the hairs of his mustache gently. Stepping into the house, he found it incredibly pleasant. Katsuki's parents were the artistic type, everything was arranged beautifully and the furniture was classy and fit right in the homey aesthetic of the house. With high arched ceilings, the house was well cared for, and the Bakugou household had a warm feeling to it, unlike the cold hallways of the Todoroki family residence.

"I'm sorry for the late introduction, I'm Masaru, Katsuki's father," He introduced, leading him through the hallways of the house.

"Ah...I'm Uchiha Kazumi, nice to meet you Ma-...Bakugou-san," Kazumi caught himself, remembering what Aizawa had said about being respectful. Yet, the father only laughed heartily, the lines on his eyes crinkling warmly.

"No need to be so formal, just call me Masaru," He had a kind smile. The kind that just made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The kind of smile that Iruka had, just never when he was looking at Kazumi.

"Hey, Kat! Your friend's here!" Masaru called out when the two reached the living room. Kazumi was met with the comical sight of Katsuki, his head in the grasp of a woman who looked like a carbon copy of him. She had the fist balled in Katsuki's hair, the tight grip even stretching his hairline and eyes.

"YEAH KATSUKI, BEHAVE, WILL YA? WE GOT A GUEST," Her voice boomed, surprisingly clear and pretty despite yelling quite loudly.

"SHUT UP YOU DUMB BITCH!"

"WHATCHU CALL ME?"

Masaru and Kazumi watched the exchange back and forth as the two went at it.

"Sir, do you have some popcorn?" Masaru only sweatdropped, laughing nervously as he watched his family go about their day.

"So you must be Uchiha Kazumi, right? I heard all about you from this lil' twerp right here. Lately, you're all he's been talking about," Kazumi whips his head over to Katsuki, snickering at the red that blossomed on his face.

"DID NOT!"

Kazumi merely chuckled.

"Good things, I hope? Well...I didn't know Katsuki had a sister, you guys look like twins."

And that's when all hell broke loose.

"Aww...honey! Uchiha's just adorable, did you hear that, he thinks I look young! Let's disown Katsuki and take him in instead!"

"Couldn't agree more hon—wait what???"

"STOP BUTTERING UP TO MY MOM, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

to be continued...

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here's a lil reward for scrolling this far ;)

no words. admire this man. this is a quick sketch of what he looked like, training with shoto.

to be continued (the real one)...