Teruko woke up as usual - tired, broken. This world was gradually taking away her strength, but it continued to be drawn from the source - her little grandchildren. She had to continue working to feed them, especially Nobu. Teruko exalted Nobu because of his pure blood. He turned out to be "gifted with Amaterasu" - an albino. It's a pity she didn't know that albinism is very harmful and is an unpleasant mutation. She was afraid to imagine what kind of quirk he would inherit from his almost lost line. Sometimes she had attacks of spontaneous emotional reaction, and now they have become more frequent, she did not control it. Sometimes Nobu came across her hand and it happened that the old woman beat the boy a couple of times in a fit of anger. Nobu complained to his sister, she only explained that old people have more ailments, you need to know when this happens to her and keep your distance.
It was becoming more and more difficult for her to use her quirk every day. Previously, in order to get meat, she could use her power and tame wild animals, which is how there is a small pasture of wild boars under their house, which, oddly enough, are no longer wild, but tame. It turned out to be a rather profitable business, while others were struggling in rice and vegetable fields, she had food and money right under the house thanks to her quirk. But now it has become more difficult to go to the forest - her age is not what it used to be. Cattle also need to be fed, so the local butcher served as a link between the villagers, who had grain and other fodder, and Teruko, who had good reserves of meat. The butcher bought fodder and vegetables from the villagers, sold them by barter in exchange for meat from Teruko. Therefore, the family was not particularly poor.
Still, they had to tend to the cattle, carry feed, and break firewood. Nobu helped with this as much as he could and also understood perfectly well what labor was. They had to dirty his pale palms. Nobu was forbidden to stay in the sun for too long, because his skin would start to turn red and hurt. Albinos do not produce melanin, which protects the skin from ultraviolet radiation, but the woman desperately tried to ignore this to the best of her old, inflexible mind.
Nobu often had nightmares, and when he woke up, he only remembered some kind of heat.
His childish curiosity knew no bounds, in the truest sense of the word. He climbed trees, crushed them, studied all sorts of bugs, threw stones a lot, sometimes he even managed to hit birds sitting on the leaves. A couple of times in the forest there were berry bushes, mushrooms and even a hedgehog. Of course, it was dangerous, but it seemed that no one cared. Teruko is a very strange woman, given her old age, naturally, she either praised him, or was disgusted by the sight of the fair-haired face, probably deep inside because of the loss of her daughter.
Fortunately, the boy had no problems with this, Nobu did not get lost in the forests, but remembered the paths, landmarks and set priorities well. Nobu often saw how the local butcher cut up all sorts of animals, but he had never had a chance to see up close what was there, what was inside?
At first there were fewer and fewer crows, different birds, then a couple of cats and dogs disappeared. Nobu studied them. Having spied some things from local boys, he learned to light a fire using flint, from which his hands hurt for a long time, of course, he burned himself a couple of times with the resulting fire, the flame was interesting. The elders did not give matches to anyone, so as not to start a fire, and flint? Who knows, it looks like a stone.
With his pocket knife, he learned to clean feathers, skins and now he could fry and eat meat when he was hungry, when no one was home to cook. The butcher once said that eating raw meat is very dangerous and generally forbidden. He was not a sadist at all, the boy did not yet understand that living matter also feels pain and did not do it with the purpose of causing them pain.
He tried to sneak into the butcher's shop to see something, but on the way he was beaten by the village boys. One of them had great strength that could even break stones, it was good that he did not use this quirk. Also, words came out of their mouths that tried to insult the boy. They called him a monster, a snow goblin that threatened the village. "What kind of nonsense is this?" At first, he was quite offended.
...
The snow-white boy was four years old, it was early morning, no one was likely awake yet, and Nobu was having nightmares again. Having dressed and taking his pocket knife, which he had successfully stolen from the butcher, he decided to go and chop wood with an axe so that neither his grandmother nor his sister would have to bother themselves with work. He was very grateful to them for the food they prepared for him. "I need to help too!" was Nobu's thought.
Grandmother, in turn, could not sleep for so long and went out to get some fresh air, and saw Nobu out of breath with an axe and a pile of firewood. "Golden child" Teruko was obviously touched by such a gesture, for her it was the highest measure of gratitude, and from a descendant of Himura .
- Grandma, I'm here... eh... - he looked at her cane, afraid of getting hit on the head.
- ... - She simply walked up to him and wiped her sweaty face. - It's okay, Nobu, I won't scold you. Next time, if you feel like you can continue working, just do it, but only for yourself or your family. Don't help unless asked.
- Okay. - A slightly sweaty snow-white head moved into the house to wash. - Nobu, when you wash, come to the clearing for a woodpile. - He just nodded his head and went inside the house. After a while, Nobu turned off the path to the clearing, where the grandmother was standing with some animal nearby. Having looked closely, he realized that it was some kind of raccoon... dog... and bear. And it also has white skin and stands on two paws. He has black eyes with a large scar on the right side. He also has a long thin tail. He was no taller than Nobu.
- Hello, boy. Can you guess who I am?
"And he can talk too." Nobu was amazed. He had been studying the quirks of the people in the village for a while, from a safe distance of course. And by studying, he didn't mean gutting or dissecting, he just observed. Well, he had seen a couple of strange appendages sticking out of people, helping them around the house no worse than an extra hand. This time, not just a mutation, but apparently more than human intelligence.
- You look like a raccoon-dog-bear. Who are you? Grandma, why is he here? - Nobu was puzzled, the beast with human intelligence did not look dangerous, sniffed slightly.
- Well, well! You have the same snow-white cover as me. - The beast remembered the boy's funny expression "raccoon-dog-bear". - Unfortunately, I don't have a name yet, my previous owners treated me badly. - He pointed to the scar.
- He is under the control of my quirk, I found him a long time ago, wounded near some suburban nursery. It was a long time ago, now his small shelter in the forest has been washed away, he will stay with us for some time. - Teruko thinks that this is just a serious mutation of a person, so she did not attach much importance to it and did not consider him food, like an animal. Although she was puzzled by the fact that she subjugated him with her quirk.
Nobu couldn't tear his eyes away from this manifestation of the quirk. His red eyes were remembered by this beast. They showed exceptional curiosity.
The beast settled in the house, Kurose wanted to pet him behind the ears, but he wouldn't give in so easily. He has his own honor, after all! They couldn't just call him a beast, so Nobu deigned to give him the name
- ...Maybe Nezu. Yes, Nezu.
"That sounds good," Kurose said. Teruko didn't care. Nezu was excited and flattered, he was given a name. This name meant something and connected him to it. He wouldn't forget it.
...
One day Nobu went to fetch his sister and asked.
- Kurose, I'm curious about your quirk. You and grandma never decided to tell me. Why?
- Well, you know... she's very dangerous and not fit for the job. Grandma said that such abilities are valued in the cities.
- Oh, I heard about that, heroes, right? - The boy was also interested in the peculiarities of quirks, and in general their nature. He saw how people working in the field used them, for example, for irrigation, as a plow and in general for cultivating the fields.
- You know everything. Heroes save people from villains, of course they get paid well. This is a chance to get out of this place. To repay grandma for her kindness in accepting us. - inspiration was visible in her white eyes.
- Show your strength. - Nobu looked into her eyes. He loved his grandmother, but when he remembered the painful beatings that he barely escaped... In general, he began to doubt and become disappointed in her.
Kurose fidgeted and as if on command from Nobu - Just go somewhere else - They came out into a clearing, she put her hand towards the tree and from one finger a black dot appeared, which began to absorb the tree and some of the surroundings with the air flow, splitting branches and foliage into pieces and then into dust.
- ... - Nobu was surprised. He saw something like this for the first time. He began to wonder, "Where does it disappear, is it forever? What will happen to the person?"
- This quirk is very difficult to control, it is very dangerous even for me. That's why I can't show it anymore.
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