Chapter 11 Why am I on Fire? by Yojimbra

I was a master of breakfast.

But, when it came to making dinner, I was fairly certain the only thing I could truly make was rice or anything that was limited to, boil water, put a thing in the boiled water. Which was largely limited to various kinds of pasta and vegetables. That wasn't to say I never made myself dinner, or that I just ate breakfast for dinner.

I could operate a microwave just fine.

Fortunately, Rei covered my weakness and then some.

She was a wiz in the kitchen, effortlessly chopping vegetables, adding spices, grilling, and just general cooking things. What's more was that she made it look so effortless. She had a smile on her face and her white hair pulled into a ponytail that she had to know was a weakness of mine, which was only amplified by the fact that she was wearing shirts with a wider collar, exposing more of her neck while keeping her shoulders covered.

Her grey eyes flashed to me and her smile grew again.

"You're staring at me again Enji~" She all but sung that sentence and wiggled her hips a bit before bumping me in the thigh.

I was stubborn and stared at her harder, smiling even bigger for a moment before I turned and looked at the pot I had been told to stir slowly. "With how adorable you look in an apron how could I not?"

"I'm adorable in my apron?" Rei laughed and pushed on my shoulder to gesture towards the pink frilly apron I had purchased for myself, alongside a pair of fluffy pink slippers that Fuyumi absolutely loved.

"Hey, I never said I wasn't adorable too." I smiled, placing the spoon on the napkin to the side of the pot, and moved towards Rei, placing both hands around her waist for a moment before grabbing onto her hand. With one hand firmly on her back, I put my two dance classes—and countless hours dancing in the mirror before showering—to use. Even if the song playing on the speakers wasn't exactly romantic.

"Haha, you dork," Rei laughed following my awkward dance steps as we slow danced around the kitchen, our hips moving at awkward times from each other as we became an uncoordinated mess of laughter, spins and twirls. I held Rei close to my chest for a moment before spinning sharply, pulling her off the ground and making her shriek in excitement, I ended the spin by holding her hand, and giving her the mother of all dips.

Rei placed a hand on her cheek and let out a flustered set of giggles.

"How does it feel getting swept off your feet by a dork?" I asked, grinning ear to ear, still holding her so close. Even though tonight wasn't a date night, that didn't mean I couldn't attempt to romance Rei.

Rei laughed again, kicking one leg than the other as her grey eyes sparked at me and her smile grew even more. "Fantastic." She shook her head, laughing and smiling all the more. "Completely and absolutely fantastic."

"Good, because I want to keep on sweeping you off your feet, each and every single day."

"Every day?" She gave a sly raise of the eyebrows as she grabbed onto the back of my neck, a sensitive spot that had my entire body shiver in delight.

"Every single day. Seeing you smile is one of the most important things to me." It felt like we were growing closer, not just emotionally, but physically. Was I pulling her closer? Was she pulling herself close? Did it matter? Not really. But the why mattered a lot.

"Then," Rei's voice was more sultry than before, her eyes half open and a smile pulled on her lips as she tilted her head to the side just the slightest amount, "How do you plan to sweep me off my feet next?"

Uhhhhhhhhh.

Thankfully my mouth didn't say that part.

"I don't know," Her fingers ran through my hair. "I'll just do what comes naturally."

"Naturally huh?" Rei hummed, eyes closing, lips pursing.

Our first kiss.

I swallowed and leaned in, letting my hand on the back of Rei's back guide me forward while her fingers played with my hair. With my eyes closed, I could feel her more intensely. She smelled like spring and freshly cut vegetables.

"What are you guys doing?"

We both opened our eyes and turned our head to the side to see Touya, covered head to toe in mud, and an even muddier Fuyumi hiding behind him. Ahh, so this was why people said that kids killed the romance.

"Flirting," I responded, helping Rei up, her cheeks flushed red. I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll take care of the kids."

"My hero," she gave a mock swoon and returned that kiss on the cheek. "I'll be waiting for you to sweep me off my feet."

"Washing muddy children doesn't count?"

"Nope!"

I smiled and tossed my apron back onto its hook, no way I was letting those two gremlins get that thing all muddied! They'd ruin the frills.

"Alright munchkins, mind explaining why you're covered in mud?"

"We wanted to build a snowman!" Fuyumi flung her arms out wide sending a splatter of mud onto the ground. "Oops."

I leaned down and picked Fuyumi up ignoring the fact that she was basically half mud at this point. I'd clean my shirt later.

"But we didn't have any snow!" Touya said. "But Fuyumi used her quirk! She's just like mom and can make snow!"

"Oh really?" I looked at Fuyumi who nodded her head eagerly. "Well then, you'll have to show me that later, but for now, we need to get both of you clean before your mom finishes cooking right?"

"Oh! Sorry Mom!" Touya shouted, sticking his head back into the kitchen, leaving a muddied hand print on the side of the wall. I grabbed him by the collar and yoinked him up onto my shoulder. That was enough of a mess.

I headed towards the bathroom and quickly stripped both kids of their clothes, and basically nuked the water buckets into being warm enough for both of them. Touya just dumped his over his head like an animal, already scrubbing away the dirt. Fuyumi I was a bit more careful with, placing her on the seat and pouring just a bit of water down her back. She yelped. Right, didn't she prefer the cold? Or was it that she didn't deal with heat too well?

"You okay Fuyumi?" I asked, rubbing some of the dirt off her cheek.

She nodded. "It's hot."

"It's great!" Touya stood up on his stool and dumped more water onto his head. "Dad always makes it just the right temperature."

"Hey, easy Touya, don't play with the water."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to get wet."

Fuyumi splashed me.

A cheerful mud-covered grin on her face.

I rubbed her white hair with red tips and gave a low growl. "You're lucky you're cute."

Fuyumi just giggled, until I dumped more water on her and then started scrubbing her hair.

After their bodies were mostly clean of dirt, I dunked them both into the tub for a quick soak. The Japanese way of bathing was actually kind of nice, even if I more often than not simply preferred to blast myself in the shower. There was just something so nice about soaking in a bath of hot water after already being clean. It was refreshing, delightful, and just oh so peaceful.

"So," I asked looking at my two kids. "Why'd you want to make a snowman?"

"It's a movie Mommy's been watching!" Fuyumi bounced in the water. She took a deep breath and stuck her head completely under. Probably because she was a kid and kids were weird. She emerged gasping for air a second later. "There's a snowman called Olaf in it!"

Ahh they were watching Frozen.

Without me. I loved that movie!

"Yeah! It's awesome! The queen lady uhh, Elsa! She's just like Mom!" Touya pointed a finger at me and poked my nose. "And there's a moose just like you."

"How am I a moose?"

Touya laughed, falling back into the tub and splashing water everywhere. I wasn't going to find an answer to my question, was I?

"Do you know the movie dad?" Fuyumi asked, grabbing onto my arm and looking up at me with her large pale turquoise eyes.

I nodded. "Of course, it's one of my favorites."

Fuyumi blinked and tilted her head to the side. "Then do you think Mommy is prettier than Elsa?"

"Your mother is the most beautiful woman in the world to me, Fuyumi."

She smiled up at me and sat back down in the tub and was quiet for the rest of the wash.

I half expected Rei to be there listening in when Fuyumi asked that, but she must still be cooking.

The rest of the night could be summed up by;

Kids: Cleaned.

Family: Fed.

Kids: Entertained.

Kids: Tucked In.

In a chaotic mess of parenting that had my head spinning.

Once everything was said and done I fell into my nightly ritual of walking towards the T.V. room to watch the nightly episode or two with Rei. Sure, I enjoyed the show we were watching, but the real draw of the event was just being able to cuddle with Rei and the freedom that came with that act. She liked the random kisses I gave to the top of her head whenever there was a lull in the action, or just whenever I felt like, and each one of those was rewarded with her snuggling closer, or a light smile.

So far our relationship was comfortably domestic.

I found Rei already sitting on the couch, still dressed in her day clothes, a pleasant smile on her face as she stood to greet me. She took a few steps closer, eyes locked on mine. She grabbed my shirt and straightened it out ever so slightly. "Thanks for washing the kids today. It was a big help."

"No problem," I laughed, wondering how exactly I could bring up what we were doing before that interruption. I still really wanted to kiss Rei. "Hopefully they won't try to make Olaf out of mud again."

Rei snorted a light laugh followed afterwards that just made her look all the more beautiful. "Is that what they were doing? I knew Fuyumi was obsessed with him but I didn't think it would be that bad."

"Yep, and Touya said I was Sven."

"I can see that."

I pouted for a second and then smiled, my hand going to Rei's shoulder as I found the mood getting to where it had been hours ago. "And Fuyumi said that you were like Elsa."

"I can see why she said that," Rei laughed, pulling her hair free from her ponytail, "Let it go, let it go, I don't give a fuck anymore~" Rei half sung before she broke out into laughter. "Sorry, I found that version on Youtube, it's been stuck in my head for a week."

"Is that what you've been humming? I thought it sounded familiar." I laughed, her hands now on my shoulders, my own now on her hips as we took several small steps in a circle. A dance of mice so as to not wake the children. Or at the very least to not make enough noise for them to come wandering out of bed.

"I found it fitting," Rei tilted her head to the side causing some of her long white hair to flow over her shoulder like a mithril stream. "So, what do you think, Enji, am I like Elsa?"

"Not at all." I pulled her close, grabbing her hand once again as we continued to spin softly in the living room. "You're far more beautiful. And smarter."

"You're certainly good at flattery," Rei hummed despite the tinge of pink I could see growing on her ears. Her voice was low, barely a whisper, barely audible to anyone but me. "But I doubt it'll be that easy to sweep me off my feet."

"What happened to having low standards?"

"You raised the bar."

"Honestly I'm flattered."

I leaned down again, Rei standing on her tiptoes to meet me halfway.

Our first real kiss was chaste, short, sweet, and everything I ever wanted from a kiss. It might sound cheesy, and it might have just confirmed what I wanted, but I think that I was completely in love with Rei. And it had only taken about five months to reach this point.

Rei pushed away slowly, her eyes still closed, her hand on my chest as though to keep me back. I stood there watching her with a mixture of concern and delight on my face. She was being so cute about this, but, at the same time it was slightly off. She nodded to herself and smiled at me. "You really do kiss a lot differently than he did."

"Ahh," I blinked. "In a good way or a bad way?"

"Good." Rei leaned in placing her head against my chest. "Very, very, good. Even though his name was the Flame hero his kiss always felt cold, like there was no passion behind it. But, yours. Well… I guess, they're just as sweet as you are."

"I'm going to treasure that compliment for the rest of my life."

"You better," Rei playfully pushed away from me, smiling. "Hey Enji, did you drain the bath after you washed the kids?"

"Uhh," That was random. "Yeah, they were real dirty."

"Theeeeeen," Rei placed both hands behind her back and took two awkward steps forward before looking back at me with a single eye that shined like silver in the moonlight. "Would you like to bathe with me?"

Culture shock hit me hard with that statement. In America, the idea of bathing together completely and utterly naked was something that generally involved sex, either before, after, or even during. But in Japan, while the gesture between couples was indeed intimate, it wasn't as closely related to sex as in America. Washing each other was just a way of being open with each other with the added bonus of relaxing with each other as well.

Still, I could feel my cheeks burn and the room even grew brighter as my hair caught fire again. "Are you comfortable with me seeing you naked?"

"Of course." Rei nodded, "More comfort than I've ever been."

XXXX

Intimate.

That's exactly what this act was.

A mundane everyday chore that was turned into something much more enjoyable by the addition of someone special. Somehow the bath had turned from a simple washroom to a date. A date with an objective that was the same as any other date, to grow closer to each other, and to spend time with each other as well. Just with one big difference.

Naked.

Sure, I had a towel that was draped across my lap but that wasn't real clothing.

"You're so stiff Enji," Rei snickered from behind me, the warm wash cloth in her hand moving up and down my back making me feel both vulnerable and safe and cared for all at once. It was nice. Really really nice.

I groaned, and glanced at the mirror so I could see Rei, her hair was wrapped up with a smaller washcloth while her body was covered by a large towel wrapped so tight it might as well be a dress. "Please don't say it like that."

Rei gave a light giggle. She was much less nervous about all this than I thought she'd be. "Sorry, you're just so fun to tease." She leaned forward and placed one hand on my shoulder, her eyes meeting mine in the mirror. "It's not the first time I've done this, so please, let me show my appreciation."

"You don't really have to."

"I know, maybe, appreciation is the wrong word?" she leaned back and started scrubbing my back again. "How about affection? Besides, I want to. You're not the only one that wants to sweep the other of their feet you know?"

"Consider my feet thoroughly swept."

"And your back thoroughly cleaned."

I turned and glanced back towards Rei. "Would you like me to do yours?"

Her cheeks went slightly red and her mouth opened and then closed. Apparently her offensive ability to tease my socks off did not come with strong defenses. "Yes."

She sat down on the stool next to mine and we shifted around, careful not to expose ourselves to each other, for some odd reason. Or at least I was, Rei was less reluctant. When her towel fell to the side, exposing her slender back, I saw it.

Her scars.

Scars from the surgeries, Endeavour knew they were there, but had never bothered to learn what each one was for. One was from her first surgery, the one that had forced her into being so desperate as to marry him. The second and third had happened after the wedding. Two were along her ribcage, one along her abdomen.

"Sorry, they're ugly." Rei muttered.

"What are?"

"The scars?"

"Oh." I wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I'm not going to lie and say they're beautiful, but they're not ugly. Besides, they're proof that you survived right?"

Rei snorted and placed her face into both of her hands. "You're so cheesy."

"And proud of it, now I'm going to start washing alright?"

She nodded again. I was gentle, perhaps more so than I had been with Fuyumi and Touya, but kids were kids, they'd whine at a harsh bath but also learn that mud was a poor substitute for snow. Rei wiggled a bit and let out a long sigh. "That feels so good."

"Remind me to rub your shoulders sometime."

"Sold."

I stared at her scars again. "Do you have any other surgeries?"

"None-planned." Rei commented, a smile pulling on her cheeks, our eyes met in the mirror again. "I've been clean since before we had Fuyumi but they still want to monitor me just in case."

"Well, I hope you're done with it for a while."

Rei nodded, humming in delight at my light touch as I rubbed her shoulders and back with the cloth. "It's been nice."

Once Rei's back and arms were cleaned, we both stood. I stared at the large bath in the corner. It had fit both Fuyumi and Touya in it earlier, but now, it felt rather small. Then again, I was a rather large dude. But Rei was rather small. The steaming water looked wonderful though and whatever minerals Rei had put into caused it to be just opaque enough that I couldn't see the bottom.

"You get in first, I'll find room." Rei pushed me on the arm, her own face as red as mine felt.

I nodded and lumbered towards the bath, tossing my towel to the side and submerging myself in the water, the bathwater flowing over and going into the drain in the center of the floor. I eased myself in and let out a long sigh that let my body melt into the water. I closed my eyes and smiled. "This was a great idea."

I heard Rei enter the water, and I kept my eyes shut as long as I could, and I only opened them when I felt her head rest against my chest.

"You're right," Rei hummed, rolling her head to the side just a bit. Her hand went to her shoulder and she gave it a light rub. "Maybe we should go to a proper spa sometime."

I reached for her shoulders and started to rub small circles with my thumbs. Rei practically melted. Thank you one semester of electives! "Your birthday's next month right? I can set you up with a day spa pass, and I'll watch the kids."

"That sounds nice." Rei half moaned, head lulling to the side again. "But, wanna know sounds even better?"

"What?"

"Getting All Might to baby-sit again, while we go on a spa date."

"Spending time with you and tormenting All Might? That's like two of my favorite things!"

"You can thank me later."

After our soak was over, we had just enough time to get dressed in our comfiest pajamas and watch a single episode of our show. We watched three and fell asleep on the couch again.