So I've been obsessed with My Hero Academia for a good while now, and this is a thing I just thought I'd write. I'm not abandoning Hangman's Forest, don't worry. This is just kind of a thing to get my groove back. I dunno, it'll probably go on longer than five chapters knowing me, so here we go. Buckle up, friends. This is gonna be full of supernatural-esque stuff and Monster Hunters. Let's do this.

Of course, this will be IzuChako.

Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.

There was something on the stairs.

No, not a shoe or a book, not typical things that one leaves on the stairs. Something else. Something sinister. To Ochako, this night felt off. It wasn't the boring, homework and takeout filled nights she was used to while living alone. Well, mostly alone. Her parents went on business trips most of the year, and now was one such time. This night was darker, more quiet, even with the gentle hum of her air conditioner filling her room. The winter chill was seeping into Ochako's bones, even when she was curled beneath her goose down comforter like a caterpillar in a cocoon, nothing showing but her face. No matter how many blankets she piled onto her body, the dull chill remained, accompanied by a sickening sense of dread. Ochako didn't want to get out of bed. A sense of foreboding was heavy in the chilly air, and Ochako attempted to burrow deeper into her blanket.

She really didn't want to get out of bed. That felt like an awful idea. But the open bedroom door gave view of the hallway, the stairs directly across the hall. And from her elevated position on the bed, Ochako could see something there. It was a shape. It was much too big to be something normal, like her backpack or a pair of shoes. But it was too small to be human. Maybe she was being irrational. Maybe it was her backpack, just with something on it. But for some reason, whatever this was activated her fight or flight instincts. And she couldn't being herself to roll over and not be facing it. It sat at the top of the stairs, peeking over the top step, the light coming from the nightlight Ochako had in her room not reaching far enough to unveil this object swallowed by the dark.

Ochako shifted closer to the wall. Any way to get farther away from whatever the hell this thing was was the best thing to do in her opinion. Ochako figured she'd try and get some sleep. Maybe it would be gone in the morning. Or maybe it really was her backpack. She made a mental note not to put things at the top of the stairs so they wouldn't scare her at night like this. Ochako sighed, rational thoughts beginning to fill her brain. It was definitely her backpack. It had to be. What else could it be, a monster? Unlikely.

"Nothing to be afraid of," she whispered, sighing.

She needed to look and see what it was. Ochako still didn't turn away, but she shifted her eyes to another part of the room, looking down at the floor. Her school shoes lay by the foot of her bed, her uniform hanging on a hook in her closet. She could make out the stripes on the collar of the blazer in the dark, and the girl sighed, looking back at the door.

Oh my god did it move?

Ochako felt her mouth go dry as she realized the thing at the top of the stairs had moved about a foot to the right. Whatever that was, it wasn't her backpack. It had to be an animal that had gotten inside. That was the only reasonable thing it could be. Had the bag fallen over? No, Ochako would have heard it fall. It was full of textbooks. And there was nothing to knock said bag over. Alarm bells were going wild in her head, and Ochako looked around the room for something she could use as a weapon if this thing jumped on her. Her eyes fell on the drawer of the night stand, which she slid open. A small pocket knife among other miscellaneous objects sat inside, and Ochako thanked whatever god there was before she snatched it into her blanket cocoon.

She needed to know what she was facing. Ochako swallowed thickly, griping the pocket knife tightly. Maybe she could use her phone flashlight? Ochako reached towards her nightstand again, her arm feeling very exposed for some reason. She unplugged the device quickly, pulling it into her blankets. She unfolded the knife to make herself feel safer as she switched on the flashlight, the beam of light illuminating what sat at the top of the stairs.

What... what was that?

That was no animal Ochako had ever seen. It was pale with eyes like little black beetles, and two hands with long, dirty claws came to curl around the top of the step. All Ochako could see was the head and hands, the head slim and completely hairless, fingers much too long to be normal. It had small holes on either side of its head serving as what Ochako assumed were ears. The mouth was full of teeth that were much too long and sharp to fit in its mouth comfortably, and it was stretched into a wide, menacing grin. The teeth were stained with a muted red color, and Ochako knew she didn't want to know what the substance causing the color was.

This was no animal. This wasn't even human. This thing was something from a nightmare. As Ochako stared at it, frozen like a deer in the headlights, the creature cocked its head almost quizzically at her.

"What the hell," Ochako breathed, voice nearly inaudible, "what is that?"

Ochako had to get out of here. That thing would kill her. Her bedroom was on the second floor, and that thing was blocking the way downstairs. Her only option was the window. Which she'd locked before going to bed. Shit. Ochako yanked her bathrobe and bra from the headboard of her bed, hurriedly hooking the bra on under her shirt, tugging the thin robe around her body. Now, time to run and launch herself out the window.

The second Ochako pulled the blankets back, the cold hit her body, raking spindly fingers across her senses. And the creature began to rise. Ochako made a terrified squeak as adrenaline pumped through her system, hands fumbling with the lock to the window. The thing was in the room now. It was a good six and a half feet tall, its malicious grin never faltering as it walked towards her at a pace just quick enough to cause horrified tears to fill her eyes. Ochako gasped in relief as the lock to the window clicked, and she flung open the window, looking down. The snow-covered bushes awaited her at the bottom, and Ochako knew that without any leaves, this would hurt quite a bit. But if she stayed here, she'd die, and she didn't want to risk running around the creature and getting caught in an attempt to reach the front door. So the window, as painful as her landing may be, would have to do.

Ochako closed her eyes and leapt from the windowsill, unable to scream as the frigid winter air stole her breath from her lungs as she fell. She fell with a tremendous crash into the bush, the bare branches and snow doing nothing to take her weight. Her robe had blown back as she fell, and a branch dug into her side, sending a jolt of pain through her body. Ochako saw the thing looking down at her over the windowsill, and she scurried out of the bush, wincing as her sock covered feet made contact with the snow. The thing was jumping down after her with an inhuman grace, long, spindly limbs stretching towards the bush for impact. Ochako began to feet slammed into the frozen ground painfully, quickly growing numb as the chill traveled up her body. Her breath came in bursts of mist, surrounding her face as she ran. She still gripped her phone and the pocket knife in her hands, knuckles white.

She was running too hard to scream, and everything seemed to morph into slow motion when her foot came into contact with a patch of ice, sending her catapulting into the air to land hard on her stomach. The pocket knife few from her hand to skid across the sidewalk, and Ochako grunted as she attempted to stand up. She struggled to her feet, grabbing for the pocket knife as she tried to run again, scooping it into numb hands. A stinging pain shot form the back of her neck, and Ochako gasped. What had touched her?

Oh god, I'm gonna die.

Ochako gasped, the thin, cold air doing little to fill her aching lungs. How was she going to get away? Ochako didn't want to trip again as she looked at the sidewalk, her cat print socks doing little to protect her feet as she ran.

Then, suddenly, a tremendous bang tore through the air, and when Ochako looked up to find the source of it, a young man was standing about ten feet away from her. She kept running at full speed, slamming into the boy's chest, causing him to stagger back.

He shoved her behind him, and Ochako fell painfully on the ground. The young man squared his feet as he aimed the pistol again at the thing, which now had a bullet hole in its left shoulder. It screeched in pain, and another bullet was fired, and another. His reload speed was quick as lightning as he shoved another magazine into the pistol, this time the bullet hitting the creature square in the forehead. It screeched and flailed, long limbs tangling together as it fell unceremoniously into a heap, crumbling into dust.

Ochako felt the shock of the situation begin to ram into her mind, and she began to whimper. What the hell was that thing? Who is this guy? She had to call the police, right? Ochako tried to stand up, staggering as the boy shoved the gun into a holster in his belt. Ochako was freezing and terrified as she felt sobs rising in her throat.

"Whoa," he said, steadying her, "calm down, it's dead."

Ochako began to sob, the tears hot on her cold cheeks.

"What the hell was that thing? Who are you?" Ochako choked, allowing herself to be pulled against his chest. His hands were covered by gloves, much better dressed for this kind of weather, a wool coat paired with a plaid scarf keeping him warm. He was reasonably handsome, a shock of messy green hair on his head. His eyes matched his hair, their color a bit darker and reminding Ochako of a forest. A spray of freckles formed a bridge across his nose.

"My name is Izuku. And that," he gestured to the spot it once stood, now a pile of ash in its place, "was a crawler."

"What?" Ochako breathed, "what the hell is a crawler?"

Izuku shook his head, "no time to explain. We have to get out of here. This thing has been following you. And there are more of them."

For the first time, it seemed, Izuku noticed Ochako's state of dress.

"You must be freezing," his tone was worried as he slid off his gloved and unwound his scarf, giving them to her. Ochako shook her head, holding up a hand.

"I can't take that from you. I just wanna go to bed."

Izuku's expression was grim as he looked back at her dark house. "You can't go back there right now."

"Why?"

"Because if theres one of them, there's more." Izuku took Ochako's hands in his much larger ones, slipping his gloves over hers. The scarf came next.

"We can't have you walking around without shoes. You'll get frost bite." He unceremoniously picked her up with relative ease, beginning to walk. The ice crunched under his boots, and Ochako curled her feet against his body in attempt to get warmth.

"What's your name," he asked, glancing down at her.

"Ocahko. How did you find me?" Ochako asked quietly, and Izuku didn't answer for a few seconds.

"I've been tracking this pack of crawlers for a few weeks now, and the last known death of unnatural circumstances was only about half an hour from here. I searched the surrounding areas, found nothing. So I came here."

Ochako blinked. "Pack? What?"

"A pack of them." He went silent. "You didn't get pricked, did you?"

Ochako's eyes widened. "Yeah. Back of my neck."

Izuku's expression was grim. "You've been marked. It's worse than I thought. I'm sorry Ochako, but you have to come with me until we can get rid of that mark."

Ochako's face went white. "Marked?"

The boy looked dwon at her, eyes sympathetic. "Once you've been marked, you become a beacon for the stuff like this. You're a walking meal to things like crawlers."

And that was when Ochako realized that she was in way over her head.

I'M IN LOVE WITH THIS.

If any of you have ideas to progress the story, send me a message or write a review! Thanks so much for reading the first chapter, and stay tuned!

~Starry