"Stupid Deku! What can a quirkless loser like you do!?" A blond haired boy shouted at the green haired kid lying in the dirt. The young Izuku couldn't do a thing. 'Kaachan may be right' The Traitorous thoughts went through his mind.
"Hey, let's go." one of the boys suggested. Katsuki took him up on the offer and left Izuku on the ground. Even the kid he was trying to protect mocked him before leaving. He hurt all over, and his eyes were starting to leak his tears. Slowly rising from his position, he heard someone nearby.
"Hey, are you alright?" Izuku turned his head to find a young woman hurrying towards him with a worried expression. Her face was foreign, with dark hair that reached her upper back. Her eyes were a glowing orange.
"I-I'm fine. I just got into an a-argument with a f-friend." he stuttered out. He could tell she wasn't buying it and her words confirmed it.
"Looks like you got into a fight to me, hang on. Cara! Potresti portarmi il kit di pronto soccorso!" the woman hollered over her shoulder. Soon a large man came running over. His skin was a touch darker while having sharper features. Izuku noticed his eyes were a piercing yellow. The man pulled out a fair sized first aid kit.
"May we?" he inquired in a slight accent. Izuku nodded and the pair treated his scrapes and bruises.
"T-thank you. Um..." The young boy looked up.
"Sorry! We didn't even introduce ourselves. I'm Jesse Cacciatore, and this is my Husband, Anima." the woman introduced herself. Anima nodded in greeting. Izuku introduced himself in kind.
"Hey. If I may be so bold, how did you get this beat up?" Anima enquired.
"Kaachan was bullying someone, so I tried to get him to stop," Izuku told the couple. Jesse looked at Anima, and he gave a nod. After the young boy was patched up, the Cacciatores' walked him to his home. They didn't stop talking until they reached his porch.
Izuku's mother, Inko, thanked the couple profusely and offered them some tea inside.
"This is wonderful, Midoriya-san." Anima complimented her.
"Thank you, Cacciatore-san." she inclined her head. Her son had run off to his room with the words 'I'll go show you, hang on.' to get something.
"Anima," he said. She gave him a curious look.
"We're from the west," he explained. "So please, call me Anima."
"A-all right then, Anima-san." Inko conceded. Jesse told her the same, and she decided to change the topic.
"So, what brings you to Japan then?"
"Teaching," Anima stated. He saw the question forming in hosts' head and answered before she asked.
"Not at a school." she looked at him asking silently to continue. "I am a martial artist, a master in fact. I was looking for someone to pass my teachings onto." He could see Inkos' surprise. With 80% of the population owning a quirk, Martial arts weren't what people wanted for self-defence. The only current hero he could think of that used them was Eraserhead. He remembered when he was a hero, many people used martial arts in conjunction with their equipment or powers, if they had any. He heard an 'aha' from Izuku's room. Inko looked to her son's room when the door opened to find him running with one of his notebooks in hand. Stopping just in front of Jesse he held it out to her. She pulled him up to her to read his hero notes with him. Anima started picking up the tea cups while Inko told him she would take care of it.
"Let me help. It's the least I could do." He insisted. When the two went to the kitchen, Anima broke the silence again.
"Your son will make a fine hero." she smiled softly.
"He wants to, so badly, but he's quirkless." Anima glanced at her.
"He's told me. But looking at him, he's planning on it anyway." As Inko turned to her guest to find him give her an apologetic look. He knew the look in Izuku's eyes, as he had them himself when he was young. Young as the kid was, he had the path he was going to take, using almost any method he could think of. Inko looked him in the eye.
"I take it you speak from experience?"
"He reminds me of myself in some ways, yes, but it's from the injuries my wife treated; defending another," Anima told her. His host glanced over to see her son bouncing in Jesse's lap while talking about Cementoss' quirk.
"I know what you're implying, but he isn't you." Inko reasoned.
"And I never want him to be." Anima's words were heavy with his thoughts. He was proud of his life, but he knew his hands were stained with blood. But he could help others from making his worst mistakes.
"Midoriya-san, people like Izuku are rare. The will to help, just for helping, isn't common. That's what drives the best heroes, symbols of peace like All Might, to be just that. That passion to be a hero can fuel him to do remarkable things, but that same passion can be self-destructive if not controlled. I should know, as one of my best friends died because of it." Inko was shocked. Not because her guest's had told her his friend had died, though that was unexpected, but because He was telling her that her baby boy, her little Izuku, had the same outlook as All Might. Anima bowed formally to Inko.
"Midoriya-san, Please let me guide that fire in your son to bring him to his absolute height. Let me help your child achieve his dreams with my teachings." His voice was quiet, but they had the weight of ages behind them. When Inko caught a glimpse of the man's' eyes Her worries were relieved then. This man didn't just offer, he almost begged to help her son.
"On one condition," she stated. "Let Izu-kun decide whether to learn from you or not." Anima smiled and nodded. He wouldn't have it any other way.
"And that's how Snipe caught the bank robbers!" Izuku told Jesse. She Smiled with a 'that's nice' while thinking. The boy was smart, she could tell, but his knowledge on heroes was impressive. Details most wouldn't see were used by him to infer a startling amount about the exact way someone's power worked. When Inko and Anima came back, she saw the look in her spouse's eye. She could hear what they were talking about, unlike the over excited boy. Over the next minute or so, Anima calmed Izuku down to ask him the question.
"Hey Midoriya-kun, can I call you Izuku?" The boy nodded. "Alright then, Izuku, you told me you wanted to be a hero, right?" Izuku looked confused but nodded again. Anima took a breath, as this was it.
"Would you like me to help you be one?" His eyes widened instantly.
"M-me? A h-hero?" Izuku asked. At Anima's nod, he was getting nervous.
"But Kachan said someone had to have a strong quirk to be a hero, a-and I don't even have one. Kachan could learn more fr-" Anima cut him off
"No, you. I use to be a hero myself, at one point, and you gave me enough reason to believe you." Anima's eyes were soft. His voice was filled with warmth.
"There are two main types of power. Those you are born with," Izuku's eyes went down. "And powers you earn, through hard work." Anima lifted the child's head. "I can help you can earn your place as a hero if you want me to." Izuku was tearing up.
"C-can I b-be a hero too?" it wasn't a question, it was a plea. The plea of a child whose dreams were shattered after everyone told him he couldn't chase his biggest dream.
"Yes. I don't think, I know you can be a hero." his voice didn't raise in tone, yet there was so much conviction in them that his words carried power. The dam broke, and young Izuku felt overjoyed. 'Someone believes in me.' His tears fell from his face, darkening his shirt. After a while of comforting, Izuku dried his eyes. Looking at Anima, he gave his answer.
"Please teach me, Sensei!" Izuku's lit up the room with a smile. Anima gave a gentle one of his own. He passed a note with his address to Inko.
"My schedule is almost always free, so come when you can." he then turned back to his student.
"Izuku-san, the first thing I'm going to tell you as a teacher are the three codes of honor amongst those of the 'lang de lujing' that I practice." seeing him nod gave him the assurance he was paying attention.
"Rule one; don't force your will upon others. People's ability to choose is what makes one human, so don't take that away." Simple in concept, but Anima loathed those who often broke this rule.
"Rule two; all life is sacred. Preserve as many lives as possible, but don't forget your lives' value as well." Inko was relieved at the last statement.
"Rule three: trust your instincts when things don't feel right, and trust your training when all is against you. They are the two things to never let you down." Anima had trusted this rule when all else failed him, and it helped him make it through anything the world gave him.
"Can you follow these three rules?" The teacher asked.
"Yes, sensei!" was his disciple's excited reply.
"Meet me at my house when you can, and we'll start then."
Author's Notes: This is the second fanfiction I've ever put on paper, er… computer. Anyways, Jesse and Anima are characters that were in a marvel-DC amalgam roleplay I've done with family. By the time of this writing, I'm still playing a younger version of Anima, named Lupo at the age of 17. Some of the characters and Ideas from the roleplay are going to leak though, so I'm sorry if these aren't your thing. And because of the lack of timeline in Boku no Hero, I'm putting it in the future, more on that next chapter. By for now!