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It starts at a beach. The sand is forgiving, and the water will wash away their existence come morning. It is an ideal training place. Neither speaks, but the quiet of nature is enough to keep Tokoyami focused; the smallest of waves lap against the shore, and crickets chirp and rustle through the long grass. Every session ends later, dusk dragging into the night, until the only light comes from the hazy glow of fireflies and a single paper lantern Fukurō brings.
It's difficult, controlling Dark Shadow. He's too strong. But then one night, he's not being overpowered by his own quirk anymore, and everything clicks into place. They've found a balance.
It's only been a few weeks since they started training. Fukurō-sensei looks entirely too pleased with himself.
They still don't talk about Fukurō's quirk. It's a pain because knowing how he manipulates his shadows could be really helpful, but Tokoyami respects boundaries, and doesn't ask. Instead, he guesses and plans and tries to find advantages in battle. He's applying to UA this fall, after all. Hence... flight. Since he's a bird. With no wings. This is going to be great.
Fukurō blinks at the idea. "If you gave him that knowledge," he says slowly, "Would you be able to get him to stop?"
Tokoyami looks over his shoulder. Dark Shadow has the attention span of a flea, and has already lost interest in the conversation to focus on chasing after a field mouse.
"...Maybe not yet."
He gets accepted into UA.
The USJ is awful. Rubble and dust go flying, fire literally rains hell down on students and villains alike, and this is school and it's supposed to be safe so why are they being attacked here? They have to cart off Aizawa-sensei's half-dead body after he nearly dies in the fight with whatever monstrosity the bad guys brought along. All Might shows up at the latest possible moment, the lead villain gets shot, and the place is cleared out, but everyone's still in fight-or-flight mode.
Tokoyami leaves for the forest as soon as he can, even skipping home. His parents will be panicking, but he just can't face them right now. His nerves are already shot - their anxiety will only make him more jumpy.
Predictably, the man materializes from the trees the moment he steps into the clearing. Fukurō-sensei doesn't have a TV, so he doesn't know what's going on, but he holds his student while he rambles too quickly and Dark Shadow guards the both of them. It's immensely soothing to just have someone listen.
He doesn't return home for two days.
Two months later, and they've figured out the mechanics of flight. Asking his own quirk to do something that could leave him helpless and falling through the air is plenty stressful already, but what Fukurō asks of him is even more uncomfortable.
"You want me to let him have control? Dark Shadow is certainly food-motivated, but not nearly as much as freedom-motivated. Nothing gets it pacing anxiously under his skin like the opportunity to be out and about.
"Grant him a little bit of freedom. If he has to fly, let it be in a direction he chooses." Be kind to your quirk, and he will return the favor.
Tokoyami is... doubtful, to say the least.
"Well? Go on," his sensei sounds way too amused, "Let the little thunderbird stretch his wings."
Warily, he does.
They fly for an hour. Dark Shadow loves every moment of it. His own heart's pounding, and even tumbling ass over teakettle when they land can't shake the grin on his face.
When his classmates ask what he spends all his free time doing, he's honest with them. To an extent, at least. He's not sure how they'd feel about him being taught by a homeless dude living in the woods that doesn't even wear pants.
Regardless, they easily accept that he has an outside mentor he spends a lot of time training with. Kaminari prods him about 'what cool hero' he's got in his pocket, but the others take it at face value and
move on with the conversation.
Only Shouji eyes him a little more intensely than the rest.
They're working on extending Dark Shadow's physical manipulation skills when something Fukurō says catches him off guard.
"I expect you to continue seeking knowledge from other teachers when I am gone, child."
That's a change of subject. A dark one, too. "What?"
"I will not always be here to guide you. You must learn under others to soar on the winds or blend into the bark of the great elm."
It hurts to hear, however true it may be. He hadn't been expecting this. Not so soon, at least - he's only been learning under him for seven months.
"I may look the same as the day we met, but my soul is graying - has been for a long time now. My time has come, as cliche as it may sound."
Fukurō merely fans a wing out, sheltering him as his words sink in and Tokoyami's shoulders start to shake, and looks to the sky.
"I am shadow. I am the owl resting in a crag, the salmon rushing up a creek. We are all of the Earth, and when we return to her soil we will rise again, albeit as something different than the last." He turns his gaze to the silent boy. Even his quirk looks teary; big, watery yellow eyes stare up at him. "Grieve, and I will be there to listen as the rain hitting the grass or the rustling in the leaves."
It is quieter than usual in the clearing, Tokoyami realizes. The crickets are silent. Even the wind has died. His mentor doesn't seem to be expecting a reply, but he has to say something. Anything for the creature that's given him so much.
"Thank you, Fukurō-sensei."
Surprise flickers in those yellow eyes for an instant, then something in his face softens. "Until next time, Fumikage Tokoyami."
Tokoyami doesn't see him again.
The sudden lack of mentor leaves a gaping wound, but he knows it will scar and heal eventually (the sentiment doesn't make it any less painful). He has no one to decompress with after the summer training camp kidnapping, or after the massive Kamino disaster. It's not uncommon for his classmates to find him rambling quietly to the trees outside during lunch or looking a little too hard into the woods.
Fukurō didn't fade away into a shadow of a man with old age. He was just there one day, and gone the next.