A Sense Of Freedom

Yuno sat in his room, bruises all over his body, cuts along his arms. Thinking about it now, he felt that it would be so much better to just…disappear from the world. Nobody liked him anyway, so why stay when there's no one there for you? Yuno lifted his hand and stared at it. Clenching his fist, he growled and opened a drawer in his dresser. There, right on top of the folded clothing, was a sharp knife, waiting to be lifted out from the drawer. Yuno took a few seconds to look at it. He shook his head and closed the drawer. It's too bad that you have to feel pain when you die. Even if you have the fortune of a quick death, there's still that one piercing shock of pain.

"Brat! Get you're ass out of bed!" Yurei yelled from downstairs. "You won't get any food, whatsoever, if you don't go to school!"

Yuno rolled his eyes and grabbed his backpack, then ran down the stairs. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked out the door, keeping his mouth shut as he slammed the door behind him.

"Yuno, Yuno!" Kisu waved at her best friend, running toward him so they could walk to school together. "Let's walk together!"

"Hi, Kisu." Yuno smiled, pulling the sleeves of his sweater down. "Did you do your homework this time?"

"Uh-" Kisu deadpanned, realizing…she forgot to do her homework again! "Oh, crap! Uncle is gonna murder meee! Yuno, you gotta help me with this!"

"Sorry, I can't just deny your uncle. You're the one who didn't do your homework. You really suck at remembering, huh?"

"Hey! It's not my fault you're such a smartass!"

Yuno laughed at Kisu, completely forgetting about his thoughts earlier that morning. The fact that Kisu can't remember to do her homework always made Yuno laugh. For some reason, she can do everything else, but remembering things always messes with her brain.

""Children!" A teacher stood before the two kids with his hand on her hips. "You're going to be late! Hurry inside!"

Yuno and Kisu ran to class, hurrying so they wouldn't get into more trouble then they already were. They surely didn't want to get their asses kicked for being late. Or worse, getting kicked out of school. Since it's such a strict program and schedule, they could get kicked out for not taking their academics seriously. Oh, well, Kisu would absolutely not care and Yuno wouldn't need such things.

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"Yuno, why aren't you eating?" Kisu asked Yuno as she ate her own food. "You haven't touched your tray at all. Are you full or something?"

"Huh?" Yuno looked up from his tray, exclaiming in response. "Ehehe, I'm not hungry. I had a filling meal this morning." He rubbed the back of his head while waving his other hand dismissively, smiling awkwardly.

"Mmm," Kisu tapped her chin with the fork in her hand. "You're not as talkative either. Hmm, are you going through, um…" Kisu looked around, then leaned forward and whispered to Yuno. "Puberty?"

"…huh?" Yuno tilted his head to the side, confused.

Now why the hell would Kisu ask that?!

"Ahaha! You're weird, Kisu." Yuno laughed.

Kisu huffed and looked down at that table, embarrassed. She looked up again to argue when she saw something soaked with red on Yuno's wrist. She didn't say anything as Yuno continued poking at his food. Kisu rubbed her eyes, then squinted. The red was still there.

What the hell?

Kisu couldn't help but wonder throughout the day. Was she seeing things? Or was it something else? There's no way it was just her imagination, her eyes never failed her. She knew that Yuno had problems with his parents, but it's not like they were hurting him…right?

"I'm gonna get to the bottom of this whether Yuno likes it or not!" Kisu thought to herself while kicking a stone into the road. Proud of her self, she rubbed her nose, making Yuno wonder what she was thinking.

"Um, Kisu?" Yuno tapped Kisu's shoulder as they walked. "Why does you're face look like that? It's kinda scary."

"Ah, I got carried away," Kisu looked away and covered her red cheeks.

"What do you mean by that?!" Kisu yelled at Yuno, realizing that he just said to her face that Kisu looked weird. "That's so mean, Yuno."

Kisu crossed her arms as they continued walking home. Knowing that Yuno's parents may be causing harm upon him made Kisu feel uneasy. She shook her head from side to side and continued walking. Pushing the thought away and replacing it with something different. "I'll just worry about it later! Uncle will kick me out if I don't do my homework!"

Yuno opened the door to see that nobody was home. The house was dark and unlit. Yuno sighed, thankful that Yurei and Kage weren't home. For whatever reason they weren't home, Yuno decided that he wouldn't worry about it. Why the hell would he wonder anyway?

"Maybe I'll just go up to my room…" Yuno said to himself while climbing up the stairs and through the hallway.

Walking through the hallway, Yuno starts to feel a severe headache kick in. He used the wall for support, feeling like he would fall over from the dizziness of the headache. It felt like cats clawing their way out of his head. Yuno started to scream, his hands holding the sides of his head. At that moment, knowledge started to be fill Yuno's head. Algorithms, numbers, mathematics, mechanical knowledge, above all else!

Was this the Quirk that stranger said three years ago? Twelve years old…of course! Yuno would be turning twelve in two days. This was it! All For One, it really did happen!

Yuno then fainted with a slight smile on his face. Finally, a Quirk. He wouldn't be treated so differently. He would be treated as an equal! Maybe his parents wouldn't hate him.

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"Yuno! You son of a bitch!" Yurei's voice woke up Yuno before he felt pain in his stomach. "Get up! What are you laying around for?!" Yurei kicked him in the stomach, yelling and demanding of him to get up. "Lazy ass! You haven't grabbed any food! You're not getting dinner tonight!"

Yurei grabbed Yuno by the collar and dragged him to his room before slapping him, then threw him into his room. Yuno rubbed his cheek, a tear or two falling down his cheek.

"Mom, I have a Quirk!" Yuno announced.

Yurei stopped in her tracks. She turned around and looked at Yuno with such disgust, it was written all over her face. "What Quirk is that?" She growled lowly.

"I- I think it's an…intelligence Quirk?"

"Intelligence?" Yurei scoffed. "What a load of crap. You're still a failure, always was, always will. You won't change because of a useless Quirk like that." And she closed the door, leaving Yuno in his room with shocked and wide eyes.

What just happened? Wasn't Yurei proud of Yuno? He had a Quirk now. What else did she require? Was it the wrong Quirk? Was it weak? Useless? What did Yurei think of him now? Questions and anxiety filled Yuno's head. He didn't know what to do or what to say. He crawled into the corner of his room and curled up into a ball, his eyes shaking, mind scattered, chest screaming, heart pumping.

Then it hit him. Why was he just sitting there? He opened the drawer to his dresser and pulled the knife out. There were red stains from the past self harm sessions he had in secret. He held the the knife up on his arm. Thick red blood dripped down his arm. He stared at the blood and let's it trickle down his arm.

"You pieces of shit!" Yuno suddenly heard Kisu's voice. "How could you treat you like that?! I'm not letting him stay with you anymore! Not with you bitches! You're son was meant to surpass the No. 1 hero? Kiss my ass! You should've told Yuno-Kun that, not me!"

He heard rushed and heavy footsteps up the stairs. The door bursted open with a loud slam. Kisu stood there, a look of anger plastered to her face. She took the knife away from Yuno, then threw it at the wall, causing the sharp point to stick in the wall.

"Were getting out of here! You're not allowed to hold knives anymore!" Kisu yelled at Yuno's wrist and started pulling him out of the house.

"Kisu?" Yuno said his friends nickname, seeing the tears that fell down her cheeks as he was pulled farther and farther away from the house. "Are you crying?"

"Shut up!" Kisu scolded Yuno while wiping her face and sniffling as she kept pulling Yuno toward the nearest train station she knew. "Shut up, shut up! You should've said something about all that! I would've beat their ass!"

Yuno didn't say anything as Kisu continued pulling his wrist. At this point, she might've left a bruise because of her tight grip. She must've been real angry. This was the first time Yuno saw Kisu react like this.

"Kisu-Chan?" Yuno said softly, using his friends rarely mentioned nickname. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm okay."

"Liar!" Kisu exclaimed. "You're staying with me! I'm not gonna let you go back there! No way!"

Kisu kept a firm grasp on Yuno's wrist while walking all the way to the station. By the time they were in the train, Kisu had calmed down a bit and let go of Yuno. Yuno had little sparkles in his eyes as he gazed at the city lights, looking like they were stars up close since it was dark outside. It was as though it was his first time outside in the open, and it sort of was. Yuno didn't have a sense of freedom. He didn't understand it know what that was.

"Kisu-Chan," Yuno said he kept looking at the city lights outside.

"Eh? What?" Kisu exclaimed and out a finger to her chin.

"Heheh, arigato(thank you)."