#especially at that one scene where he told momo he can explain everything if given the chance

[literallymomoayase]

Okarun is so good at communicating I'm gonna cry

[shi-daisy]

I've noticed that you're not very fond of Renji or the Kuchiki characters in general. Can I ask why? (No offense, just curious)

No offense here, anon. I'm more than happy to answer.

I'll start with Rukia since she's the easiest to explain. Rukia was one of my favorite characters up until the Hueco Mundo Arc. You see at first she was a dynamic girl, a little helpless but that was understandable since she had no powers, she was funny, kind and I really felt for her during the first arcs. Then Kubo just replaced her with another character. Rukia got more closed off, agressive, punch happy and tried to make Ichigo apologize about something that wasn't his fault. I didn't hate her, as she still had some of her best traits but this shift made her go from one of my faves to a neutral character. Worst off it's when she marries Renji after he left her for years and almost slashed her to bits, and the novel, oh that damn post canon novel gave me rabies. She's embarrassed by being called Abarai? I could buy this from Orihime, or Momo, hell I'd even buy it from Riruka, but Rukia? No, that's not her. Instead of forgiving Byakuya and Renji in a heartbeat, Rukia's character would've been better off if she told them both to sit on a prickly cactus and stay the hell away from her, then left with Ichigo and Co. to the human world at the end of the Rescue arc. Instead she forgives those two, who have been nothing but shitty to her and takes to hero worshipping Byakuya. No, that's the worst thing she could've done and to top it off she marries one of them and has his kid. That dude hit you once and you not only marry him but have his kid?! Gurl, that literally begging for trouble right there. I just felt disgusted with the way Kubo handled Rukia. I don't hate her but I don't love her as much as everyone else in the fandom does.

Renji And Byakuya though? Those two I absolutely despise.

During the first arc these two come to the human world to arrest Rukia, who need I remind you was completely powerless, and what's the first thing Renji does? Swing a goddamn sword at her. He literally just tried to slash her with his sword. Does Byakuya interfiere? Tells him to maybe tone it down a bit? Nope, he does fucking nothing. Renji keeps trying to hit her, with a grin on his face, and later on even chokes her. It's not until Uryu, who's a freaking Quincy, steps in that the whole aggression stops.

I know people defend this with 'oh Kubo meant for them to seem as villians at the time' but I think you can't come back from trying to slash your bestie/future wife or from letting my sister be slashed to bits.

But ok, if it was just that, I'd be willing to let it slide so as long as the two apologize and Rukia gave em a 'reason you suck speech' or something similar. Well next time we see Renji he's taunting Rukia in prison. He backs out and says it's a joke later but it was still scumy of him to do that. During that same scene Rukia says she knows she'll get killed and pinnapple dumbass tells her Byakuya would intervine, but she shoots him down by saying that he'd likely just kill her himself and has never once cared for her from the moment he adopted her. Like, what? This asshat hasn't even looked her in the eye in 40 years? I know in shinigami time that's like 4 years maybe but it's still a long time to be emotionality neglected.

After his fight with Ichigo we get Renji And Rukia's backstory and instead of growing sympathetic towards him, I hated him more. So he and Rukia grow up together with some friends in the poorest place in Soul Society, and after their friends death they join the academy to get better housing and food. That's good so far, only the two are separate because Renji has more potential and Rukia is average at best. He gets new friends and keeps moving forward. Rukia was alone and stuck. Sad but ok maybe they'll make up after graduation. Nope, because the Kuchiki clan wants to adopt Rukia, remove her from the academy and now she'll live as a Noble. It's clear in that scene that Rukia does not want this, that she'll take any excuse to not accept, does Renji tell her to stay with him, or to choose what she wants? Of course not, the idiot congratulates her, makes a light-hearted joke about it and then sulks when Rukia sadly thanks him and leaves. Then he suddenly decides to stay away from Rukia for... bullshit reasons. Like I get Kubo tried to paint it as a I have to stay away so the Kuchiki won't get mad at her, but Rukia didn't ask for that, she was lonely, even more so without Renji, and he didn't even attempt to communicate with her or just check in? She obviously didn't want that and he didn't either, but no, I'm apparently supposed to be heartbroken that they were speareted. Then when he sees her again, his childhood bestie, the woman he loves, his future wife and mother of his child, what happens? He tried to slash her with a sword when she was depowered. See how his backstory made the previous scene worst. Honestly I was glad he chose to help Ichigo not let Rukia get killed but damn, it shouldn't have taken this long!

After that we get the whole Renji vs Byakuya thing. Renji goes down like a chump, assists in the final battle for a bit and that's it. No apologies for the past, or for what he did when he arrested her, or the things he said to her in prison, zero apologies from Renji Abarai. This doesn't work, especially if Kubo wanted to marry these two off by the end of the series. Renji needed to apologize directly, we needed to see it play out, not just be told he did it offscreen. This left me hating Renji for the reminder of the show. He was now more friendly and even a bit of a comic relief but his first impression muddled that for me. On the Fullbringer Arc he refused to fight Jackie because a man who hits a woman is trash but... didn't you just do that to the chick you're in love with like two years prior? Did he forget? Was that an admission of guilt or something? I dunno. It felt like a last ditch attempt from Kubo to make him more likeable but to me it fell flat. By the end I was fully disinterested in Renji, wheather he lived, died, married Rukia, Byakuya, whoever the hell, I just didn't care for him at all. It did bug me that he took Uryu's spot in the final chapter cover. Uryu deserved better than Mr hypocrite taking his limelight. Renji would've been better as one off villian, Kubo should've given his backstory to another character and have them with Rukia instead. I'll never get over the fact that this dude spent his first appearance being the most unlikeable jerk, physically assaulting the woman he loves, talking shit like a cocky dumbass, almost killing two of the main characters, and taking the girl he loved to her death; only to be married to said girl in the end, with a daughter and on best terms with the people he fucked over. I ain't a fan of him.

Byakuya it's another character who I wanted to smack against the concrete, repeatedly. First appearance? Lets his lieutenant throw his sister around like a ragdoll, almost kills an innocent human, and basically acts like everyone's beneath him? Good, I already hate him. Next time we see him, he shows no emotion towards Rukia's sentence, he's still hell-bent on stopping the human squad from rescuing her, almost lets Renji die after he loses to Ichigo (honestly I was down for Renji bitting it but c'mon this dude is your employee and you don't care if he dies? Big yikes) Keeps messing up every attempt from the others to rescue Rukia. Almost kills Renji in a fight, then goes to fight Ichigo and here's where he became irredeemable for me. During his fight with Ichigo, he says he'll beat Ichigo and then kill Rukia himself. That's when I wanted Ichigo to chop him into sashimi. You can't say something like that and expect anyone to forgive you. He loses against Ichigo and at the very least honors his word to not kill Rukia. Okay then he defends Rukia from the real baddies. Nice, I still hate him. When he's being healed he tells Rukia that he adopted her because his wife was Rukia's actual sister, and he promised he'd keep Rukia safe if he ever found her.

All throughout the flashback I only felt sympathy for Hisana. Being put in the poorest place in Rukon, having to leave your baby sister to survive, marrying a guy who you love only for his family to hate you because you're not Noble, then getting terminally ill and not being able to help your lost sibling, all of that is horrible and broke my heart. More so when you realize that Byakuya didn't keep his promise to protect Rukia because it would break the law. He can stick his laws where the sun don't shine Rukia almost got killed unfairly because of him, Ichigo and his friends would've died unfairly because of him, he doesn't deserve any forgiveness. At least the dude had the spine to apologize on screen but that still just the bare minimum. I wanted to see him make up for all the shit he caused, maybe try and help change the law so a mistake like this dosen't happen again, just something productive. Well no, he's still the same cold and unlikable jerk we first met, only now he seems to treat Rukia better. This should've been a start, not the default. When he almost died in the final arc I thought it was a fitting end, he's humbled down, he apologizes to Rukia and Renji for losing, he leaves everything in Ichigo's hands, which mirrors how he was opposing him on the first arc but it's now fully on his side, it was the best way to salvage this unlikeable prick. But no, he dosen't die. He lives and its back to the grind again. Worst of all it's how he appears during Rukia's big fight and she uses her Bankai, he's there to mansplain and sour the fight and ugh I hated that chapter. Then he says he's proud of Rukia and it's meant to be a heartwarming moment, to me however it was vomit inducing. You're proud now? Two years ago you almost killed her! You ignored her and neglected her for decades and this is supposed to be cute?! No, his pride is worth less than dirt when he treated her this badly before. Heck if he had won back at the beginning Rukia wouldn't even be there. You almost killed her two years before, and now you're proud? Miss me with that nonsense.

The ending was especially jarring for me not just because Renji got with Rukia but also because they, along with Byakuya did nothing to fix the system that almost led to Rukia's unfair death. None of them did anything and if there's one thing I would love to see if Bleach ever got a sequel,would be Ichika yelling at the three of them for their ineptitude. They let the Sokyoku get rebuilt, they didn't do a smidge to change the system even though they're two captains and a lieutenant, and still live in prefect rich peep paradise when Rukon is still as shitty as it was when Renji and Rukia lived there.

Sorry for the long answer, I just wanted to let everything out as in most discussions people are baffled by the fact that I don't like these three characters all that much. Hope this answers your question anon!

[emeraldwaves]

Title: Start of Something New Chapter 4 Pairing:  Todomomo, side Kamijirou Rating: T Word Count:  3,916 Summary: Momo is thrilled to be spending her winter break on her family ski vacation. Even though she’s anxious about graduating in the spring, she’ll have time to relax, enjoy the slopes and hang out with her best friend. Shouto is not thrilled to be stuck with his father for the entirety of his winter break. It’s anything but a vacation. Even with his siblings there, everything reminds him of his past and he just wants to get back to finishing school and moving on. When the two continuously run into each other at the lodge, both of them realize their vacations aren’t going to be what either of them expected. Read on AO3 Thanks to @liziscribbles for reading this ahead, full fic under the cut!

Momo stood at the top of the mountain, the cool air brushing through her long dark hair. Her pony tail stood up high on her head, her dark hair flowing behind her. Her eyes were covered with her red ski goggles, matching her red ski jacket and skis.

She was officially ready to take on the mountain. It was a new day, and though it was cold, the sun shone bright against the powdery snow. Actually, Momo felt a little warm underneath her comfy jacket.

She stared out at the view overlooking the mountains directly in front of her. The peaks were capped with ice and snow, the colors soft, like brushstrokes from a painting. A scene she was familiar with, but never tired of.

Determined to put her dinner with her parents behind her, Momo turned her attention to the trail in front of her. The whole point of this trip was to enjoy skiing and her friends, not to worry about her future or school. Currently, it seemed a little impossible, given how loud the anxious voices in her head were. Her parents didn't help much either, with their questions and implications at dinner.

She shook her head, forcing the thoughts from her mind. Her parents had already started down the trail, her mother moving slowly as she daintily planted her poles and turned, her body following the slow movement. Her father was a bit faster, already making his way down the trail. If she took much longer they would most likely worry about whether she'd fallen.

Pushing off, Momo began to zip down the hill. She was far faster than both her parents, her knees bending gently as she sped through the snow. She loved the scraping noise of the skis cutting against the packed powder and the way her hair whipped through the wind. It was such an exhilarating feeling, one of the only times she enjoyed the nervous beating of her heart as adrenaline rushed through her veins.

She curved to the side, powder flying up as her skis cut through a small patch of snow. She loved the feeling more than anything else.

She made her way to the bottom of the hill, back towards where the chair lifts were. A few more runs with her parents and then she would be meeting up with Kyouka for an afternoon of more skiing.

Admittedly, Momo preferred skiing with Kyouka because the girl challenged her. Kyouka zipped down the trails so fast, Momo could've blinked and missed her. She also was more daring when it came to jumps or racing, something Momo never tried until she met her best friend.

The runs with her parents were tame as always; still enjoyable, but not as thrilling.

When lunchtime came around, Momo was ready to say bye to her parents. She felt guilty for leaving them to see Kyouka, even knowing they enjoyed their alone time as well.

The outside of the small cafeteria was lined with ski racks and fire pits to relax and enjoy what most people considered the best part of a skiing day, après-ski. When she stepped into the basin lodge, she was hit with the smell of fried food and wet snow, an oddly comforting scent.

"Momo!" Kyouka immediately spotted her, calling out and waving as Momo weaved through the tables. She trudged over, her ski boots still tight around her ankles. "We have a problem," Kyouka hissed, pulling down on the purple pom poms on her winter hat. The wool slowly moved down over her friend's eyes and she let out a soft groan.

"What kind of problem!?" Momo asked, glancing around the room. Had something happened she didn't know about? Was Kyouka not going to be able to ski?

She raised her hand up, gesturing toward the food line.

"Are you hungry?" Momo asked, glancing at the queue for those waiting to pick up their food. Nothing seemed wrong or out of the ordinary until...

"Why is he here!?" she groaned.

Momo's eyes caught the blond boy ringing people out at the counter. Kaminari, the boy from the cafe obviously worked here too.

"Oh!" Momo smiled, clapping her hands together. "Great! Now you can go talk to him again!"

"No," Kyouka said flatly, peeking out from underneath her winter hat.

"You have to eat, Kyouka!" Momo giggled. She'd never seen Kyouka so flustered over a boy; it was cute.

"Nah, I'll survive," she shrugged, turning away from the cafeteria line. "You can get me something."

"Hm," Momo hummed, shrugging her shoulders. "But I don't have enough hands to hold my food and whatever food you plan on getting."

"Yaomomo, you have plenty of hands," Kyouka snorted. "You can put your food and mine on your tray."

"Oh come on! Don't you want to say hi!"

"No," Kyouka repeated. "I'm starting to think he might be a robot clone, and the lodge mass produces him to work at all their various locations."

Momo turned to look at the blond, who was happily laughing as he rang some customers up. "Mmm... I don't know, he seems too alive to be a robot," she said, covering her mouth as she laughed.

"Look, Momo," Kyouka sighed heavily. "I don't want him to me all... all... ski sweaty!"

"Kyouka," Momo smiled gently. She was obviously very distressed about this, and though Momo still didn't quite understand why, she wanted to help her. "He works at a ski lodge. We all look like this, and I'm sure he skis plenty himself."

Groaning, Kyouka pushed herself up from the table. "Okay, okay. I will suffer."

"Good. You need to eat," Momo nodded, allowing her friend to head there first so she could be sure she actually went.

As the two of them walked around the cafeteria, Kyouka sighed and tentatively made her way towards the check out.

"Hey! Jirou, right?" Kaminari smiled wide, leaning towards her with excitement.

"Uh, yeah," she said, shoving her hands into her pockets as she rocked back and forth on her large ski boots. "I... didn't realize you worked here too."

"Oh! Yeah, they rotate us around a lot." He began to punch numbers onto the screen in front of him. "I kinda prefer the cafe, but seeing people excited about skiing and taking their breaks is cool! I mean seeing you... is especially great!" he laughed and Momo watched as Kyouka's face turned bright red.

"R-Right," she said. "Uh... anyway... how much do I owe?"

"$13.54," he said, still cheerful even after Kyouka seemingly ignored his compliment. "I hope you're enjoying the slopes today. Wish I could get out there myself," he sighed longingly, glancing back towards the large windows.

"Yeah it's a good day," Kyouka muttered, stroking down one of the pom poms. "So you, uh, ski?" she asked.

"Snowboard," he nodded, swiping her card.

"Oh, an asshole who ruins it for the rest of us then?" Kyouka blurted out.

Kaminari pouted. "What!? No! Snowboarding is cool! I-I mean so is skiing but... snowboarding is badass!"

"Sure," Kyouka smirked, taking her card back from him. "Snowboarders always push the powder away, making us skiers slip on ice hidden underneath," she teased.

"See, you're looking at it all wrong. We're making it more challenging for you! Without us, skiing would be boring!" he nodded, as if he explained the ultimate truth.

"Oh yeah, so boring," she snorted, chuckling softly.

"Well, hopefully I can ruin the slopes for you one of these days," he smirked, pointing his fingers at her.

"Keep dreaming," she retorted quickly, and briskly walked away.

"Bye!" he called out after her, and turned towards Momo. "Oh! Hey! You're Jirou's friend right?"

"Mhm, Yaoyorozu Momo," she said, re-introducing herself, since the blond seemed to have forgotten.

"Right, Yaomomo," he said, swiping her card. "I, uh, I hope Jirou didn't think I was kidding about joining you guys! I-I mean... if you don't mind a third person one of these days."

Momo smiled. It was so funny how quickly he changed his attitude upon talking to her versus Kyouka. He obviously was crushing just as hard as she was, and honestly Momo couldn't blame him. Kyouka was adorable, and around him she always acted a little nervous and flustered. It made her extra cute.

"Don't worry," she giggled, taking her card back. "I'll let her know."

"Hey, thanks!" he laughed. "You're a real bro!"

Momo couldn't help but snicker to herself as she made her way back to the table. She'd never been called a bro before.

"Well that was a complete and utter disaster," Kyouka sighed, shoving one of the french fries into her mouth. "Should've gotten more of these to drown my sorrows in potatoes."

"Kyouka," Momo laughed, "You were fine!"

"I told him he ruined skiing for us because he's a snowboarder!"

"Well, snowboarders do make things more difficult..." Momo nodded.

"I know," Kyouka snorted. "But... I shouldn't have said that!"

"He didn't take it poorly, he told me he wants to spend time with us if he's not working," Momo shrugged.

"What?! He said that!" she said, practically choking on one of her fries.

"Mhm!" Momo laughed. "You shouldn't have run away so quickly."

The two girls continued their lunches, Kyouka groaning about her inability to talk to Kaminari Denki, a strange phenomenon she didn't quite understand.

"And what about your boy?" Kyouka asked. "Have you bumped into him again?" Casually diverting the subject away from herself was Kyouka's specialty.

"Kind of," Momo answered tentatively. "I saw him last night at dinner and we caught eyes, but... that was it. I think I need to push him from my mind."

"Why?" Kyouka asked. "He's cute."

Momo shrugged, not wanting to think about the awkward conversation with her parents from the night prior about distractions. "I just... I don't really have time for distractions right now," she said.

"Yaomomo, you always work way too hard. You're allowed to have a crush, you know!" Kyouka teased.

"I-It's not a crush! I don't even know him!" she said, waving her hand back and forth quickly.

"And you give me crap about Kaminari..." Kyouka shook her head.

"You've had longer conversations with him!" Momo urged.

"Whatever you say," Kyouka said, taking the last sip of her drink. "Let's get skiing."

"Yes! Let's!"

Momo was thankful Kyouka was quick to let it drop. She supposed it was hypocritical of her, to want to see Kyouka enjoy her time with Kaminari but avoid spending time with Todoroki. For some reason it felt different. Maybe because it involved Momo herself. Or maybe because she didn't think she'd ever see him again.

The two girls snapped their skis back on, taking the lift up the mountain. Momo gently swung her legs back and forth, brushing the snow off of her skis. With Kyouka, they usually went straight to the top, ready to take on the whole mountain, as opposed to her parents who slowly made their way up to the top.

"We gonna race, Yaomomo?" Kyouka asked, pulling her goggles down over her eyes.

"You know it!" she giggled, following suit.

The two girls stood at the top of the trail and Kyouka held up her gloved hand. "Three, two, one, GO!"

They pushed off, zooming down the mountain. Kyouka was fast, far faster than Momo, and she honestly didn't know why they raced when she knew Kyouka was going to win. The purple-haired girl zipped forward and zoomed over a small jump on the side of the path. "Woohoo! You'll never catch me Yaomomo!" she laughed, calling behind her.

Using her poles to propel her forward faster, Momo tried desperately to catch up with Kyouka, though she smirked as they both moved over the hill. The trail split off here into two paths, and Kyouka had already zipped down the left path, technically the longer of the two. If she could head to the right there was a possibility she could win.

She leaned into her skies, crouching down as she turned towards the right side of the path, cutting across. Kyouka would never expect Momo to split off-

When she turned her direction, she didn't hear the yell but she saw the speeding figure out of the corner of her eye with barely enough time to stop. She swung her body to the side, attempting to parallel stop on the skis, but her fast momentum made her fall, knocking into the person who was now directly in her line of sight.

~~

Shouto tapped his ski pole against the edge of boot, feebly attempting to remove the snow before snapping himself into his skis.

It felt strange to wear skis again after years of staying away from it. He felt heavy, weighted to the earth and his knees leaned forward, his calves pressed against the ski boots. He'd forgotten what it was like to wear them, how awkward of an angle it was.

"Lookin' good, Shouto!" Natsuo said, saluting Shouto with his pole.

"Natsuo!" Fuyumi scolded. "Don't swing your poles around like that. Remember how Mom always said you'd take someone's eye out!"

At the mention of their mother, all three of them went silent. Slowly, Natsuo lowered his pole back down. "Y-Yeah..." he chuckled, trying to keep the mood as light as possible. "She would've yelled at me so fast!"

Shouto stared at his skis. It felt weird to be at a place like this without her. Sure, she'd never been to this particular resort, but Shouto was certain his mother would've loved it.

"Does everyone have their equipment together?" Their father's voice all made them jump. The last thing they wanted was to continually bring up their mother around him; his least favorite topic. "We'll be taking the double chair up first for a practice run and then the quad to the top. One run should be plenty enough time for you to be used to your skis once more. Let's go."

He pushed off, heading for the double chair, with Shouto and his two siblings following. Fuyumi rode with their father, and Natsuo and Shouto rode the chair behind them. Shouto leaned his elbow against the bar, watching as the slope moved beneath them while the chair carried them up the mountain.

Already the sun was high in the sky. Their father decided they would start in the early afternoon since he had work to get done in the morning.

"I think skiing is like riding a bicycle," Natsuo said, tapping one of his poles against the tip of his ski. "You never really forget how to do it."

"I guess," Shouto said. Perhaps there was a part of him that wanted to forget. His feet felt heavy, and even sitting on the chair, he wanted to slip under the bar, fall into the snow, and zip away. He wished his father would let him sit in his room and enjoy vacation in bed or something. Anything but this...

It just... didn't feel right without her.

He pushed off of the chair and turned to follow his father and his sister to the top of the trail. "Don't do anything crazy, Natsuo," their father said, pulling his goggles down over his face.

"What!? Why did you only say that to me?!" he sighed.

"Because you're the only one who would actually do something crazy," Fuyumi teased playfully.

"What? Shouto is a total wild card!" Natsuo said, gesturing to Shouto purposefully.

"Don't drag me into this," he snorted, pushing off with his poles as he started down the trail.

"Shouto! I didn't say we were going yet!" He heard his father call out behind him but he didn't stop casually going down the mountain. He wasn't going to allow his father to control when they started going down the slope. This trip was already ridiculous enough.

The trail his father picked was shockingly easy, though for all his bragging, Shouto knew his father wasn't the best skier. It had been years since any of them had done this, but Natsuo was right. They didn't forget.

Shouto would never forget.

Making his way down the slope he could almost picture his mother in front of him; her long gray hair splayed out behind her, blending in with the snow. She always smiled wide as she made her way down the mountain, full of exhilarating, contagious energy. She taught Shouto to love skiing and love the snow.

This trail wasn't challenging, even if this was a new mountain for Shouto. He made it to the bottom with ease, watching as Natsuo zoomed down behind him, spraying him with snow when he stopped at the bottom.

"I hate you," Shouto scoffed, brushing off some of the melting snow off of his body.

"Next time, I'm gonna win! Just you wait!" he smirked, leaning forward on his poles while Fuyumi and their father skied up next to them.

"You should've waited, Shouto," his father scolded, clicking his tongue.

"Mmm. It was fine."

"This is a family trip. I want us to stay together," he snapped.

"And we did. I just went first," Shouto shrugged.

His father let out a heavy sigh. "Next time, do as I say. We're off to the quad chair now."

The quad chair sat all four of them on one lift and it took them directly to the top of the mountain. Shouto sat on the end, far away from his father, while Natsuo rambled on about something that happened to him at school.

The wind whistled by Shouto's ear the further up the mountain they got and he wondered if he could beat Natsuo down the mountain again. It would be pretty funny if he did, since Natsuo often bragged about being the fastest of them. A small of competitive energy warmed his heart. Plus, if he went ahead again, it would piss his father off for sure. Shouto was eager to do just that for the entire goddamn trip.

They pushed off of the chairlift when they made it to the top of the mountain and Shouto stared at the incredible view. They were higher up from the restaurant the night prior, and he could see the tops of the mountains directly across from them. In the distance, he could see ranges of mountains, capped in snow, covered in trees. It was stunning and his heart tightened in his chest. He could imagine his mother would love this. She would probably make a comment about how beautiful it was.

 'Paradise.'

It was what she called the mountains. While most people thought paradise was a warm beach lined with palm trees, Shouto's mother found the most joy surrounded in snow. She loved cuddling up by a fire with hot chocolate after spending all day rushing down the mountain with the wind kissing her cheeks. That was her dream vacation.

And views like this made Shouto understand why.

"She would've loved this, don't you think?" Shouto heard Fuyumi's soft voice next to him and he swallowed the small lump in his throat.

"Mmm... yeah..." he said.

"Fuyumi! Shouto! We'll be taking this trail!" their father called for them, waving them over to a trail to the right. Shouto stared at the mountain one last time. Though he was certain this wouldn't be the last time he saw the view, he wanted to take it all in.

"Alright Shouto," Natsuo said, wiggling his butt as he set himself at the top of the slope. "This time I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Tch. Okay," Shouto snorted, pulling his goggles down as he glanced towards his brother,

If he was going to do this, he might as well try and be better than Natsuo. At the very least.

The two boys pushed off before their father could stop them and they began to zoom down. They crossed in front of each other various times, though Shouto stuck more to the right, following the trail.

Natsuo was ahead for now, but he was going to get cocky as he always did. Shouto expected him to go off makeshift jumps on the side of the slope and fall or something stupid like that. He smirked at the thought of beating his brother yet again.

However, as focused as he was on his brother, he didn't notice his surroundings and he only saw the flash of red attempt to stop as he tried to halt himself too.  It wasn't fast enough to prevent them from colliding into each other.

Both of them toppled to the ground, a mess of skis and bodies. Thankfully the person had stopped faster than Shouto, saving them from making a higher-speed impact.

While he fell to the ground and rolled ever so slightly down the mountain, his skis popped off and poles were left behind, strewn about in the snow behind him. His arm hurt slightly, but thankfully, since they had tried to stop themselves, the damage wasn't so bad.

The girl in front of him also had been detached from her skis and she groaned, slowly pushing herself up.

Shouto blinked when he realized it was Yaoyorozu of all people.

Just his damn luck.

"T-Todoroki!" she gasped, awkwardly running towards him in her ski boots. She fell to her knees in front of him. "O-Oh no... Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?"

For a moment, he stared at her dumbfounded, shocked it was her. Even in her ski outfit she looked absolutely stunning. Her dark, concern-filled eyes were focused on him, her cheeks red. Had he really just run into her of all people?

"I guess we just... keep running into each other," he stated finally. Probably not the time for a lame joke. Hell, it wasn't even funny. She probably thought he was an idiot.

She bit her lip and shook her head. "I'm... so sorry! I didn't see you! I-I was racing my friend and I wasn't paying attention... which is so bad... so so bad. You could've been seriously hurt or killed! Skiing isn't a joke and I should never have-"

"Yaoyorozu," he said, gently touching her shoulder. The way she rambled was honestly cute, and Shouto couldn't stop staring at how fast her lips moved. He also felt a little guilty. He hadn't seen her either. He was far too focused on Natsuo. "I'm fine. I was... racing my brother. I didn't see you either-ah!"

He blinked, noticing a small dribble of blood trailing down a small cut on her forehead. "You're hurt," he said, pulling off his glove to gently brush some of the blood from her forehead. Her breath hitched, her cheeks flushing even more.

He was so close to her now, worried he'd actually injured her.

"I-It's just a cut! I'm fine!" she said.

"No. You could've hit your head. Is... there a first aid station at the basin? We should go there immediately. I'll take you," he said, forgetting all about his father's schedule.

"R-Really! You should stay with your family. I'll ski down and get a band-aid!" she said, shaking her head. "I-I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

"Please..." he muttered. "It would feel strange if I didn't at least make sure you were okay after colliding with you on the mountain."

She looked down once more and slowly nodded. "Okay..."

Shouto sighed, smiling in relief. "Great. We'll ski down together then."