Chapter 28 Why am I on Fire? by Yojimbra

Are you sure?"

This was about the twelfth time that I had been asked this in the past hour, each time was more annoying than the last. It was probably just the fact that I was stressed to hell and back about what all of this even meant. Was it that little girls quirk I stole? What was her name again? Haru? I couldn't remember! It might not even be her! Sure, she was the only person whose head I remembered patting, in recent days, but I'm pretty sure that's what I did to kids whenever they asked me something cute.

Or they kicked me in the shinn but that was just one little punk.

Rei, my saving grace in all of this sat calmly, now dressed in her pajamas and looking multiple levels of concerned and annoyed. "No, we just called you here to have a pajama party, and honestly, yours are boring Toshi~"

All Might was reduced to a blushing stuttering mess that put a smile on my face long enough for me to forget that I totally had All for One. "I, Uhh, I, I should have dragged Kushina here."

I waved my hand and rolled my eyes. "Nah, Rei's here for my emotional support."

She placed her hand on my shoulder and nodded. "It's a good thing Maki was willing to babysit on such short notice."

"Your emotional support comes at my sanity."

I smiled up at him as All Might sat across from Rei and I, and next to Nezu who still looked like he needed a booster seat on the couch. "That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

"Besides, do you really think Kushina wouldn't be on my side when it comes to teasing you?" Rei gave a great big smile that helped to lighten the mood just a little bit. "Now hurry up and fix my husband so we can have a good night's sleep, so he can get his butt kicked in mario kart all weekend."

I couldn't argue with any of that. Though she did leave a few things omitted.

"But I didn't break him this time," All Might whined, a massive pout seemed so out of place on his normally happy face.

Rei Todoroki

Quirk: Tease All Might.

"But still," All Might leaned forward, the seriousness coming in like the tide. "Are you sure?"

"He grew a flower out of his head," Rei pulled the flower I had given her earlier out of her hair and smiled at it for a second. "He also made this bloom in our garden and is probably going to make Touya hate grass because my husband decided that green thumbs were for chumps and got green feet to turn our yard into a miniature jungle."

Really, I had no idea how I got a flower to grow out of my head.

"But," All Might shifted in his seat, folding his arms over his chest and taking on a thoughtful expression. "Why?"

I bit my cheek and closed my eyes, wracking my mind for knowledge that had once been so clear in my head when I had first woken up in this world, but had quickly become less important as I focused on actually living here. "I'm not really sure, but, for a while now, I've been having nightmares."

Rei took my hand holding it tight.

"I know that One for All is alive, or, at least is sentient, kind of like ghosts, so." I licked my lips, brain spinning as I tried to put what I could together. It was starting to make sense. And I wish it didn't. "What if that's not unique to One for All? What if it could be applied to All for One as well? What if he knew that some part of him would live on in his quirk?"

All Might groaned, placing his head in both hands and sinking into his seat. "I hate that that makes sense."

Rei squeezed my hand tighter and moved so that her knees were on the couch as she looked at me. She stared into my eyes for the longest minute I ever experienced. "Do you think, he might be trying to take over?"

"Considering how he threatens to burn our family, uhh, I think that's what he wants." I admitted softly, "But, don't worry, I won't let him hurt you."

"He is hurting me by hurting you." Rei looked towards All Might, and then towards Nezu, "How do we make it so the only people keeping him up at night are me and our kids?"

"I got nothing," All Might shrugged and gestured towards me. "Once again, I feel like you're the one that knows more about this than I do, I still haven't even made contact with my master yet."

"Yeah, I'll do my best to avoid giving him any ground."

"On the plus side Enji," Nezu stood up his little night cap still on his head. "There's not much he can truly tempt you with, all he can offer you is power and you act like you're allergic to it."

Rei laughed and I felt my cheeks burn. He wasn't really wrong, I mostly just wanted to live a peaceful life.

"But, I have been thinking of a few possibilities." He pushed his tablet to the side and hopped over onto the table, "As terrible as it sounds, we can make use of All for One, taking away the quirks of villains that would otherwise need to be sent to Tarturus, could be one application for it, and might even allow us to reform villains as well."

I blinked, "And what do we do with all the extra quirks? It might not be safe for me to hold onto them considering how I tend to randomly set myself on fire."

"True, true, but, there are plenty of heroes that could use a boost, additionally, you don't have to keep the quirk yourself correct? You can easily pass it off to someone you can trust, though, finding someone as simple," he held up his paws. "In a good way, as you, might prove challenging."

"So turn it into a second One for All?" Rei asked, "Only instead of turning some poor kid into All Might, they'll have nightmares and might bring about the second coming of the demon lord."

I loved how I corrupted Rei into being a nerd.

"There are risks to this yes, but, I'm merely discussing our options here." Nezu took in a deep breath. "If Japan didn't abolish the death penalty, I'd suggest giving the quirk to someone right before their execution, but the only country that currently does that is the United States, and dealing with them in a matter such as this might not be too wise."

I could only nod, I had no doubt that the American government would try to take the quirk for themselves, hell, I didn't doubt that the Japanese government would do the same. And I was saying that as someone that was good friends with a congressman.

"Alternatively, we do a little bit of an experiment." Nezu smiled and gestured towards himself. "I'm not the only animal that has a quirk, so it is possible for us to develop them. Nothing is stopping you from buying a rat, seeing if you can transfer the quirk to the creature and then just, not, letting it live."

That felt like something I should have thought of.

"Alright, so, one last question." I asked, looking at the ring on Rei's finger. The ring that I had given her out of love, a ring that was my promise that I wasn't going away. And I was going to keep that promise. "What happens if he doesn't let me transfer All for One? How am I going to deal with these nightmares?"

Nezu shrugged. "I've been working on a psychology degree in my spare time, I have no problem acting as your therapist, medication might also help, meditation as well, but I suspect that your most powerful weapon is right there next to you."

"Enji," Rei whispered in my ear. "Is he trying to flatter me?"

"I'm simply stating the truth." Nezu gave a short nod. "As for the activation of All for One, you just need to avoid giving head pats."

"Right, I can do that."

"You almost gave Touya a head pat before we left." Rei hummed and gave a long stretch, the late night was getting to us both. "But, what are we going to do about the quirk he stole?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about it." Nezu folded his paws behind his back and smiled. "We know the school name, it won't be too hard to arrange an accidental meeting."

XXXX

Rei had fallen asleep in the car.

"I'm not asleep," She mumbled as I opened the car door for her. I wasted no time in grabbing her by the wrist and gently guiding her up. We closed the car door and I scooped her up in my arms. "Enji~" She whined, her legs kicking at the sudden weightlessness, one slipper went flying into the yard. "If you're going to pick me up like this, you should at least kiss me first." She gave a dopey laugh, "Especially if you wanna toss me around later."

"You're adorable," I muttered, smiling as I carried her to the house. Talking with Nezu and All Might had helped me a lot, and it also helped me realize that so long as Rei was around I would be fine. "But, we're not going to do anything but cuddle."

Rei gasped and buried her head into my shoulder. "You're threatening me with a good time, you villain."

I rolled my eyes and kissed her gently on the top of her head. I moved past our living room, I saw Maki passed out on the couch in an unflattering position, our daughter Fuyumi was living the dream with being able to use the busty Maki's chest as her own personal pillow, Touya was asleep in the chair, and Shoko was awake in crib, looking at me with a big goofy smile.

I placed Rei in bed, leaving her to protest before I set out to deal with the rest of my family.

Shoko first, checked her diaper, and made sure that she was all taken care of.

Next, I grabbed Fuyumi who was all but glued to Maki. She was tucked in and her night light was left on.

I placed a blanket on top of Maki, and just assumed that she stay the night, considering how late it was. Besides, me and Rei were probably going to be too tired to deal with the early morning chaos.

"Dad?" Touya asked as I picked him up.

"Yeah, what's up buddy?"

"Why does grass grow so fast?"

"Because of bird poop."

"Birds are stupid."

"I know buddy, I know."