Chapter 116: Fuku's Outing Part 2

After getting out of the lake, and drying themselves, they decided to try a more relaxing activity.

That being painting.

Fuku set up some stands and some canvases, and put some seats in front of them, and the two sat down and got ready to paint.

"So what do you want to paint first?" Kioku asked.

"Well, I was thinking we could make paintings out of those photos we took," Fuku said, grabbing the camera's the two of them had used to take the photos.

Kioku nodded. "Sounds good."

Fuku handed over one of the cameras, and the two got to work. Painting quietly by the lakeside.

Kioku found the experience quite pleasant. It was so…quiet. She loved her new home and family, but sometimes she wished it wasn't so constantly noisy. Like all the time.

Right, here, the only noise came from the wind, and the sound of their brushes, and this allowed Kioku to fully focus on her painting. Currently, she was working on recreating her picture of a Crane in a lake.

And she thought it came out pretty well. A mostly blue painting, with a single white thing that somewhat resembled a Crane.

Ok, it wasn't all that great but Kioku understood that people her age weren't about to create the next masterpiece. Doing something well came with practice, and Kioku was only six.

And Kioku was confident in that notion until she looked over at Fuku's painting.

Now, Fuku's painting wasn't a masterpiece, but it was, leagues better than Fuku's.

Fuku had chosen to recreate her picture of a rabbit coming out of its hole. It had perspective, and detail and the rabbit looked 100% like a rabbit.

"How are you so good at this?!" Kioku asked in shock.

"G-Good? Well, I wouldn't say I'm-" Before Fuku finished her sentence, she looked at Kioku's painting, and quickly decided to stop that sentence right there. "Well um. I had lots of practice. Pretty much all I did was read, paint, draw, write and cook. And I stopped cooking a whole lot once…he locked me in my room, so I started painting and drawing more. So I'm sure if you practice you'll make paintings even better than this one. Actually, here let me show you something."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And that's how you draw with perspective," Fuku explained.

Fuku brought out a new canvas and showed her how to paint a lake properly, without just making the whole canvas blue.

"Now you can paint some trees, and you can make the Crane look like it's coming out of the water," Fuku said. "Watch."

Kioku watched Fuku intensely, as she started painting. It was a very slow process, as Fuku hesitated before every stroke, looking over the painting each time she did anything as if constantly judging herself, trying to discern the best course of action to properly paint the picture.

Her hand was absurdly steady, something Kioku had taken notice of, but now could fully appreciate. There were no twitches, no involuntary movements, no awkward lines.

Fuku painted trees, and the sun, before finally painting the Crane.

"There, now if you really want to improve it you can add some details," Fuku said. "You'd be really surprised how much some lines can make a picture, feel more alive!"

She was not wrong.

Fuku added some very carefully painted lines, and it made the whole painting much, much better.

"So, did you understand what I was doing?" Fuku asked her.

"I…I think I do?" Kioku understood what Fuku told her, but she wasn't sure if she could actually put it into practice. "Can you help me practice?"

"Of course!" Fuku nodded, putting her painting aside, and setting up a fresh canvas. "Let's just try to get this Crane panting right. Just remember what I did and try to do it again. If you start messing up, I'll help guide your hand. Just try to focus."

Kioku nodded, and she picked up her brush. She took a deep breath and started painting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And you're done!" Fuku said, putting her hands together and looking happily at the picture.

Kioku looked over her work inquisitively. Overall, it was a vast improvement on her original painting, by basically just being a worse version of Fuku's painting. Although given how good Fuku's painting was in her mind, making a worse version of it was still something she was amazed by, and for the most part she'd done it herself.

Fuku had helped her out, of course, guiding her hand for a few seconds here and there, putting her on the right track, but this was still 70% her own doing.

"So do you wanna try doing one on your own now?" Fuku asked her.

Kioku nodded, eager to see how well she'd manage on her own.

"Alright, well let's just see how you do," Fuku said encouragingly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

After painting for about an hour, they decided to move on to something else.

Archery.

TWANG!

"Darn." Kioku pouted as she saw her arrow fly past the target and fall to the ground a few feet away.

Fuku had set up a target, very close to Kioku so her tiny arms could muster enough force to actually hit the target, and taught her how the basics of how to use the bow.

However, Kioku wasn't having much luck in actually hitting the target, at all.

Her arrows flew to the sides, stopped before they could hit the target, and even sometimes went backward.

She'd been able to graze the side of it once but never did she actually hit it on her own. The only arrows that hit the target were the ones that Fuku had helped her with. But for some reason, she couldn't hit it, and she was beginning to get really frustrated.

Fuku, seeing her frustration, began to get nervous that she may have made a mistake in her planning. "U-Um. Well, maybe you should imagine the target as something else. Something you hate. Like your parents. Oh, maybe I shouldn't have meant-"

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

Fuku was cut off by Kioku, rapidly letting off arrows, and shooting them at the target in rapid succession.

About half the arrows missed, but the other half impacted the target, most of them landing around the inner circle, but one of them hit the edge of the center.

Kioku smirked, before looking over to Fuku. "Can I have more arrows please?"

Needless to say, Kioku's accuracy improved dramatically for the rest of their practice session.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, and that's how you hook the bait," Fuku said, after demonstrating. Putting the bait on both hooks. "Now, we just have to throw the line in."

Kioku nodded and watched as Fuku sat down in one of the folding chairs she brought and grabbed her fishing rod.

She was learning a lot today. And while none of these things is anything she had wanted to learn, she was appreciative non the less.

"Alright, just do what I do," Fuku instructed her. "Raise your pole, back over your head."

Fuku raised her pole, back over her head, with Kioku doing the same.

"And then just throw it over! But keep your grip tight, so you don't throw the rod." Fuku continued. "Like this."

Fuku threw the rod over her head, and the hook flew into the water. "See."

Kioku nodded. She tightened her grip around her rod, as hard as she could, before throwing it, tossing the hook into the water.

"Good job!" Fuku praised her, giving her an encouraging smile. There was a light in Fuku's eyes that Kioku hadn't seen before. A sense of joy Kioku couldn't quite place the source of but was appreciative of it nonetheless. "Now we just, wait."

And, so they did.

They just sat there, with nothing but silence between them for a little while, before Fuku worked up the courage to speak. "So…um…you don't have to answer this if you don't want to but…what happened, back when you went outside with Yami and Yonda? Why were you so…upset when you came back.

Kioku frowned, and looked away from her, not responding for a while, as she considered what to even say.

Part of her, a very significant part, wanted to refuse. To tell Fuku she didn't want to answer.

But another part of her remembered that she needed to open up to other people if she wanted to get better. And maybe, just maybe she learn something else from Fuku.

"They wanted to know why I don't like people very much." Kioku answered. "And the reason was…because I'm angry, and I'm jealous. I'm angry and jealous because of how everyone else is with their parents. And even though I have a new daddy now, one that loves me…I still feel these things and I feel-"

"Ugly." She heard Fuku finish.

Kioku's eyes widened, and she turned back to Fuku and looked at her in shock, only to find a very, very sad expression on her face.

"You feel ugly and ungrateful, and like you should be happy, and because you're not, that there's something wrong with you." Fuku continued, her tone was cold, and that light in her eyes had vanished completely, replaced with a dull sadness that left Kioku agape.

"H-how did you know?" Kioku asked, her voice so quiet it was pretty much a whisper.

"Because I feel like that too," Fuku responded, her voice still cold, and she looked to be staring at her reflection in the pond. "Back when I was still…with him. I'd read books, about people with loving families, best friends, or lovers. And I'd feel…well, I'd feel great at first. I'd put myself in their place, and I'd just imagine I was them. And I'd feel amazing. Until I heard my father call me. Then I'd remember who I really was. That I had no friends. Or loving family. And I felt angry and jealous. At least for a little bit, before all the fear washed it away."

Kioku was just looking at her in shock, because was, while not exactly the same, eerily similar to her own experience. And she'd never expected someone as timid and gentle as Fuku to feel anger and jealously like she did. She seemed too nice for it.

"And now…I still feel like I'm not anything like the characters in my books, or manga, or anime." Fuku continued. "Even though I have nice people who care for me, I finally have a loving family, some things are just wrong. I can't call Izuku my father. Even he's basically the father I've always wanted, I still can't call him that because when I think of the word father, or dad, or anything like that, I still think of…of HIM."

The way she said him, her tone suddenly sifted to become bitter and angry in a way that Kioku never thought she'd hear from her.

"He's still here, not in person but part of him is still with me. Still trying to hurt me." Fuku's voice was trembling with rage and sadness, and tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "I can still hear him sometimes, judging me. Insulting me. Sometimes I can even feel him hitting me, I don't even know how that's possible but it is. He can't touch me anymore, but everything he did still happened, it made me into…into this. He made me not able to call someone father, he made always afraid that someone's trying to hurt me, he made it so I can't LOVE myself. And thanks to those candies, I know exactly what he took from me, and I…I hate him. I just hate him, so much! And I-"

Fuku was cut off, as suddenly Kioku launched herself at her, enveloping her in a tight embrace before she started sobbing into her shirt.

"K-Kioku!? What's wrong!?" Fuku quickly put aside her own feelings and looked down at Kioku with great concern. "Did I do something? O-Or say something? What's-"

"I-I-I'm…" Kioku struggled to speak over her tears and sniffles, it sounded like she was choking on her own words. "I'm not alone…I'm not alone! I'm not alone!"

Kioku didn't sound sad. She sounded, happy. Overjoyed.

Those words hit Fuku and hit her hard.

I'm not alone.

She was crying because she finally found someone who understood her. Who felt similar to how she felt. She was crying because she wasn't an outlier.

And now Fuku was crying for the same reason, tears slowly falling out of her eyes. "I…we're not alone. We are not alone."

In a house full of trauma, Fuku always felt like she handled it the worst.

Eri and Kei, despite going through things that were even worse than what she went through, seemed fine for the most part. Way better than her.

Often times she'd lament being unable to let go of the past like Eri and Kei seemed to be able to, she felt like she was being pathetic, no one else was like this so why was she this way.

But hearing that someone else shared her feelings, was…liberating.

And so she dropped her fishing rod and held Kioku tightly, and the two embraced for a while.

Fuku didn't know how long the embrace lasted, maybe minutes, maybe hours. She just lost track of time.

They only separated, when they heard a quite concerning sound.

GRRRRRRRRRRR.

Both girls looked up, before looking back down at Kioku's stomach, which was the source of the noise.

"U-um. I'm hungry." Kioku admitted, blushing with embarrassment at something like this interrupting such an important moment.

"Oh uhhhhhhhh." Fuku's eyes widened, and her face went white. "I was planning to cook up the fish that we caught…"

Kioku's eyes also widened, as she realized that because of what happened, neither of them had caught any fish. "Oh."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting Kioku some of the snacks she'd brought along, using those to hold them over, the two continued fishing.

"I got one!" Kioku shouted as she started reeling it in as fast as she could, pulling the small fish out of the water, and into the air where it flopped around, struggling on the hook before Kioku grabbed it. "More food!"

"Great job Kioku!" Fuku praised her before she got a tug on her own line. "Oh! I'm getting one too!"

Fuku started reeling it back, and with some effort, she pulled the fish out of the water, and into the air.

"Woah! It's as big as my arm." Kioku said, looking at the fish in awe, as Fuku put it in her bucket.

The two had been at it for quite some time now, pulling in fish and placing them in two separate buckets. It wasn't a competition, given that Fuku had more experience, it was more so that way Kioku could look at her bucket, and say that SHE was the one who caught those fish. It was to make her feel proud. And it worked too.

Sometimes Fuku would see her stare back at her bucket and smile. And that made Fuku smile along with her.

But in between hooking in fish, they would talk.

"So…do you hate people who haven't had bad things happen to them, sometimes?" Kioku asked her, as she threw her line back in.

"I used to, just a little bit," Fuku answered. "But it always felt wrong to do that. It's not like they ever did anything bad to Fuku, so Fuku shouldn't want bad things to happen to them. So whenever I used to feel like that, I'd just think about my books and manga."

Kioku looked up at her in awe, as if she just said something revolutionary, before going into thought. "Um, can you give me some manga so I can do that? I really want to stop being so…angry at people."

"Of course! Oh, I know this one about a Fox Girl that will absolutely melt your heart!" Fuku told her. Her face lit up with excitement as she began to rattle off titles she'd used to comfort herself over the years.

They stopped their talk momentarily, to reel in more fish, before moving on to another topic.

"How do you…move on so quickly?" Kioku asked next. "You weren't able to go out of your room at first, and now, you can do all this? But me. I haven't moved on much."

"W-well. I wouldn't say I moved on." Fuku admitted with a pout. "I'm still really, really scared of doing new things. Honestly, I was scared you'd reject me when I asked you to go camping. It's hard. Really hard, to force myself to do all this. But I need to do it. When I ate that candy, I finally knew what it felt like to not hate myself. And I want that. I want it more than anything in the whole wide world. I always have, even before I ate that candy, but now I want it even more. So I need to work really hard to stop being afraid and do what I need to do to feel that way again!"

Fuku looked down at Kioku, who looked up at her with eyes that sparkled with amazement.

And Fuku felt her heart fill.

It was now that Fuku started to really feel that Kioku was her younger sister.

Eri, Kei, and Kiba always felt like they were her older sisters. Even though she was older than them. Because in Fuku's mind, an older sister was one the guided and taught their siblings. One that helped them through difficult times, and through experiences they'd already been through.

And while Fuku had done her fair share of that with Eri and Kiba. But those were outliers. For the most part, those girls had guided Fuku through her recovery. They helped her move forward when otherwise she'd be paralyzed with fear.

But right, or rather, thought the entire day, Fuku had been guiding her. Showing her how to do new things and giving her advice on how to push forward.

It felt overwhelmingly amazing. A bit scary, she was concerned she might say something wrong, but she literally just said she had to push past things like that, so she did.

"When you have to do something really scary to get what you want, just think about how badly you want it," Fuku advised, before flashing her a bright grin. "And don't be afraid to rely on others for help. Honestly, I don't know how far I could have gone if Eri and Kei weren't there to help me. If you feel like something's too much for you, you can call Eri, Kei, Izuku…or Me, i-if you want."

Kioku smiled back at her and nodded.

Fuku was truly glad she decided to go on this trip.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

SISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

"Mmmmmmmm." Kioku looked like she was in heaven at the moment, with a plate of fish in front of her, and some of the food already in her mouth. "It's so good."

Fuku was working on a grill nearby, cooking up the fish they caught. "Are you sure? I didn't overcook it or put on too much seasoning?"

Kioku shook her head. "No! I love it!"

"I'm glad," Fuku said, giving her a relieved smile. I haven't cooked much on a grill, so I was worried I might not do it right."

"You worry too much Fuku." Kioku reassured her, shaking her head before stuffing her face with more food. "You're really really talented. I think you know more stuff than anything at home, except daddy."

"I doubt that!" Fuku quickly denied it. "Besides there's no way I'm anywhere near as amazing as Kei, or Eri, or Kiba. Those guys are just, on another level."

Kioku didn't quite agree with that notion but wasn't really able to find a way to argue against it, so she just kept quiet, and kept stuffing her face, and soon she forgot about it altogether, because the fish was that good.

As Fuku was finishing up her own plate of food, she noticed the sky was beginning to change color. "Oh! Kioku! Quickly come here!"

"Hmmm?" Kioku looked up from her food and saw Fuku walking towards the edge of the lake. Curious, Kioku got up and followed her, bringing her plate with her.

The two sat down at the edge of the lake, with their plates set down on their legs.

And soon Kioku saw why. "Wow."

This was not Kioku's first sunset, however, it was her first time seeing the sunset, over a lake, in a forest.

Seeing the sun slowly go down behind the mountains, as the sight reflected in the crystal clear waters of the lake, was one of the most beautiful things Kioku had ever seen.

"It's…" Kioku couldn't even finish her sentence, as soon her mind just focused on taking in the sight in front of her.

Fuku herself was overwhelmed with joy, both that the sight was as awe-inspiring as promised, and that she wouldn't disappoint Kioku.

The two just stared at the sunset for a while, until the sun finally went down.

And when the sun went down, the stars came out.

Kioku gasped when she saw them. She'd obviously seen stars before, but never as clearly as now. Thanks to living so close to the city.

But now she could see what the sky looked like without all the light pollution, and witness the as they were meant to be, and the reflection of the lake made it all the more beautiful.

"H-how are there so many?" Kioku managed to ask.

"Nara said something about all the lights in the city making it harder to see the stars. So if you go far enough away, you can see them like this." Fuku explained. "It's really amazing right?"

Kioku just nodded, her eyes glued to the sight in front of her.

Eventually, the two managed to continue eating, but their heads still remained tilted upwards, as they stared at all the different stars in the sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eventually, the two of them got tired and retreated into their see-through tent. Wrapped up into their sleeping bags, they continued to look up at the night sky.

"Did you have fun today Kioku?" Fuku asked her hopefully. To anyone else, the answer to that question would be obvious. But Fuku just had to make sure, in order to shake her fears completely.

Much to her relief, Kioku nodded her head. "Today was amazing. I learned so much, I ate great food, and I got to see so many amazing things. And it was all thanks to you."

Fuku felt like her heart was going to burst from joy after hearing that, her face went red and she felt a smile form on her face. "Thank you. I tried really hard to plan everything out."

Kioku looked over to Fuku and gave her a joyful smile. "Can we go out again some time? And can we bring Eri and Kei?"

"Of course! That sounds wonderful!" Fuku quickly agreed. "Everyone's been through so much. And I know we're gonna have to go through some hard things in the future too. So I want to make as many good memories as possible. I'm hoping that if we make enough good memories, it'll make the bad ones hurt less. What do you think?"

"...I think that sounds amazing. Big sis." Kioku responded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, it looks like they hit it off," Fu commented, as the two of them looked at them through the Seer.

"I know, and I couldn't be happier about it," Izuku said, sitting in bed, ready to go to sleep.

VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Suddenly, Izuku's phone started vibrating on his nightstand, and Izuku leaned over to see who it was. "Oh."

It was Namae.

"Well, I knew this was gonna happen eventually." Izuku sighed, as he picked up and answered the phone. "Hello Namae, it's been a while."

"Hey, Midoriya! It really hasn't it!" Namae responded. "So I just woke up from a meeting, I mean I just got out of a meeting, and speaking of things it's been a while since, guess what, it's time for you to meet your new highly dangerous bundle of joy!"

I guess it's been long enough. Izuku readied himself, to accept a new face to the house. "Alright, tell me about them."