[•元•]
Izuku Midoriya, tired from yesterday's walk from all across Hokkaido, decides to let himself rest by the fireplace im a nearby hotel in a small town called Asaripa just outside of Wakkanai where they came from.
It was a good thing that the girl that he had searched for so long had agreed to his terms and made herself a partner on his journey, because he wouldn't be sleeping so peacefully if he had known that she had refused.
Now, Izuku will take his time to enjoy to comfort of the heat that envelops his face. Winter this year is especially cruel, considering the thickness of the snow in the streets.
His mind filled with thoughts of longing, self-pity, and doubt. But he can't say that he's going to give up on his pursuit soon.
If anything, Izuku is like the little flames that eats away the firewood: filled with the determination to go on and burn everything in sight.
Or... he had so felt.
A churn in his stomach and a tightening of his heart that makes Izuku suddenly feeling his chapped and thirsty lips, the tremor in his hands that refuses to stop, and the horrible feeling of anguish that's almost eating his sanity away.
The fire kept on trying to burn even the biggest and thickest of woods, yet it will never give up, not until it's dead.
Izuku is the same. At least in motivation.
He slowly unbuttons his shirt, feeling a tad bit trapped in his own sweat and odor. He eyes the little white line all across his shoulders and shoulder blades, some of these scars may look old but they are actually no older than two weeks.
Izuku has a habit to laugh at the shape of his own body, unknown to him why. Maybe it's because of the irony of his seemingly frail and small body, maybe it's because of an unfinished business he has with the world that made the universe rejects his death.
Maybe he doesn't deserve to die, not after everything he had done.
Izuku scoffs to himself. If he was damned to walk this earth for the rest of eternity to atone for his sins, then he'll make this world as better for him as possible.
He glances sideways, looking at his lone sword that leans upwards against the side of the leather sofa that he sat on.
He reaches out, grabs it by the sheath, and brings it closer for him to see.
He doesn't know why, but he hates this sword.
As he unsheathes a little part if the blade, he immediately sees a little reflection of himself on the watery Damascus steel. A reflection of a young man with an overgrown green hair, face full of freckles, and crimson red eyes that burns fear into his enemies' heart like a fire burning away wood.
In an instant he sheaths back his sword, his heart hammering loudly against his ribcage, a sudden overwhelming realization makes him shudder in wary.
"I thought you were going to sleep." Says a voice behind him.
Izuku couldn't see from the front of his sofa, yet he recognizes the soft yet sneering voice of one Kazuho Haneyama.
The descendant of the shinobi stands by the entrance of the hotel living room, her arms crossed while looking straight at the greenette's back of his head.
Izuku purses his lips, his thumbs twirling on top of his sword. "I... couldn't sleep..."
"You said you were tired." Kazuho reminds him.
"I have a lot on my mind." Izuku responds with a light snap.
Kazuho turns silent, her hips sway left and right as she approaches the male sitting in the middle of the room. She ran her hands down the side of the sofa before she continues down towards the fireplace.
Her figure colored red from the flames, her orange curly hair flows down her shoulder as she squats for heat right in front of the fire. Her cream colored nightgown, lets out a reflective hue close to that to the color of the most beautiful pearls.
"You said you were one of the subordinate of a shogun." Kazuho asks him as she picks up a poker from besides the fireplace before she begin smoothing down the charcoal. "Which division were you?"
Izuku blinks. Twice. Then he brings a hand up to his chin. "My father was a samurai, he was the one they called All Might."
Kazuho suddenly shoots him a look. "The All Might? The mighty samurai who has been said to cut through hundreds and hundreds of enemies during the Satsuma Rebellion?"
"The one and only..." Izuku sighs. "Truth is, I was only 11 when that happened, and it was the last time I saw my father."
Kazuho decides to comfort herself into one of the vacant sofas, she sets aside the poker and faces Izuku entirely. "Why did you left the Daimyo status?"
"Because we lost." Izuku tells her with a chuckle. "My old man was never a smart person. He was very chivalrous, yes. But chivalry doesn't stop the bullet rain."
"Is that how your father died?"
Izuku took a while to answer. "No... I've never seen him since the rebellion. This katana was the only thing they found left in Shiroyama."
Kazuho can see emptiness inside his eyes as he stares deeply into his sword. The girl decides not to dwell too deep into the matters of his father, god knows she had heard about the might of the samurai who can cut up a mountain with one slash, there's no telling what his jaded son would do.
Kazuho imagines something of him that resembles more of a samurai than any other. But what is it? He seems so far-fetched from the definition of a samurai.
"Are you a ronin?" She suddenly asks him. "It's just that... I've never actually saw you as a genuine samurai."
Izuku makes a light smile. "According to the Bushido Code, Ronin is a masterless swordsman, separated by the death of his teacher. I never had a master, and I never followed the code. I am neither a samurai nor a ronin."
"Yet you... still believes in heroes?" It is true that, most olden day heroes were mostly samurais or someone from a military position, for Izuku to be a freelancer is frankly out of logic. Even more so when his own father is a legendary warrior.
"Those are bygones. And let them stay that way." Izuku simply says, there is a small spark of arrogance in his tone. "Neither did the samurai's way nor the imperial's way was right. My vision is as clear as a running river, and I have no plan on doing otherwise."
"Mmhmm..." Kazuho doesn't know what to say. He was right about the fact that there is no 'right way' to run a society. And truth be told, she had never approved of any of them. "My... someone I know said the same thing. It's what we think that matters, he says."
Izuku nods in understanding, before he hangs his head. "Sometimes I wish that... I can prove him wrong..." Izuku mumbles to himself.
"Who?" Kazuho unknowingly asks.
"My father." Izuku answers her with his eyes staring at hers. His crimson colored pupils reflected the burning embers in the fireplace. "All Might was a fool, he always believes in something so stupid and irrational. You understand why I wanted to do this, don't you? People can't afford anymore honor-driven madmen."
Kazuho honestly couldn't disagree with him. She knows where he was coming from, and truth be told, the reason she never took up the role of a kunoichi is because she never actually believes in them. But someone she knew long ago had made her believe that whatever she had done can never justify her for who she is.
Izuku made her believe that. He made her thought that she can be someone else rather than an abnormality in society.
That is when she suddenly feels conflicted. She feels doubtful about their journey when she remembers the reason of why she decided to hide in the first place.
Vengeance, revenge, where is the line that splits in between?
Kazuho sighs, she's tired enough to fall asleep right on the couch right now, meaning that she's too tired to deal with a year old grudge that's still stuck inside her heart.
"Tomorrow we head to Sapporo." Izuku says, bringing out Kazuho out of her yawn. "That's where we start building our own official group."
"And if we died on the way?" Kazuho yawns again.
"I'll make sure none of that ever happens." Izuku assures her.
It didn't take long for Kazuho to fall asleep on the couch, and when it's already way past two in the morning, Izuku still hasn't felt a little bit of tiredness overwhelming him.
Izuku looks at his katana again, leaning by the sofa next to him.
He never felt so powerless, so unworthy. Is this guilt? Was the old man right about him not ready enough to hold the katana?
"Fuck you, All Might." Izuku begrudgingly thought. "I will create a nation better than before..."
[•隙•]
Several miles from Asaripa, over the shed of birch trees, through the bear-ridden pine forests, and pass the rapid rivers of the Ainu salmon hunting grounds, there is Sapporo.
The town where the military occupation in Hokkaido centered, is filled with thick snow from winter and the smell of dango cooking from the stands in the streets.
There are children laughing as they play on the thickening snow, the winter is also the time where adults begin drinking more and more booze to heat themselves up from the cold, not to mention the coming snow festival that's supposed to begin in a few days.
However, today is not the day for Private Officer Tenya Iida.
In the stables where he takes care of the fastest horses in Sapporo, Officer Iida continues giving them hay to eat and some water to drink to get through this winter.
No, it's not because of the stable job that made him especially irritated. It's because of a dreadful incident that happened to his older brother, the Lightning Lieutenant 'Ingenium' Tensei Iida.
Tenya doesn't like to think much about it, knowing that it will interfere with his progress. But the way Tensei acted when he came back from his investigation in bandages and casts, it made Tenya blow steam.
"Here you go, Nanaba." Tenya tells his horse as it starts to grow impatient for the hay in his hands. "Eating lots of food and drinking water everyday is the best way to fill up your energy."
Nanaba the horse merely returns his gesture by breathing directly into his face, fogging his glasses in the process.
The tall man sighs when he sees each and every one of the police horses are already fed and watered. Tenya lifts up his police hat with his thumb, looking around the stables in case of something that he missed.
He nods to himself with satisfaction when his daily chores are all finished. With a quick turn, he leaves the stables after he slung his Mosin-Nagant rifle on his shoulder.
A few minutes afterward, Tenya starts to worry about the time as he checks on his silver pocket watch.
"It's already half past eight..." Tenya says to himself. "Brother should be having his bandages changed. I should also hurry and get to my office."
The walk to the hospital wasn't that long, considering the small distance it had from the police station. Public hospitals are that common as the practice of traditional medicines are fairly very popular in Japan. But the quality of these treatments are objectively low, only the foreign imported drugs work perfectly.
Last year, Tenya had received a call that his grandfather, who by the time was 78, had died of tuberculosis. Not long after, his mother soon caught the same disease. But only his mother survived said illness due to the fact that she was once visiting a foreign country.
He made this, the pursuit of foreign powerful knowledge, into his goal. In times like these, the wit outsmarts the strength.
By the time he arrives at the hospital, it's already beginning to start accepting visitors. He decides to look around a bit before finally going up to the nurses and begin asking them about his brother's condition.
The nurses, dressed in white waist hugging dresses with corsets and toque blanches with red crosses on their caps, finally tells him that Tensei Iida's condition is recovering pretty quickly and should be expecting him to walk out of here soon.
The doctor were also nicer than he thought, treating Tensei as if he was a part of their family. Tenya wasn't surprised of course, he only figured that his brother's reputation got ahead of him.
Tensei is fairly popular, after all. Young and tall, positioned himself into the ranks of lieutenants, it was easy for people to like him.
He stops by in front of a hospital room, the one where his brother is resting.
He looks around the hospital ward as he begins straightening his own figure, cleaning his uniform from any visible wrinkles, and regains his own composure.
With a quick knock, he lets himself in.
A cheerful voice greets him as he enters. "Ah! Little brother!"
Tenya finally came face to face with the man who is also the spitting image of himself. Tensei, while taller and larger in size, shares the same short cut navy blue hair, the same strong jawline, and the same broad shoulders.
The only difference between them is that Tensei tends to act more laid back and gives off a much stronger easygoing attitude. Whereas Tenya finds satisfaction in continuous progress and quintessential results.
The eldest of the two is still in wraps, yet less than the time Tenya had last visited him. The cast on Tensei's right foot is still there, uncomfortably keeping his bones together.
"If I had known you'd come, I would've cleaned myself!" Tensei closes the book that he was reading and sets it aside.
"I apologize. Also, due to the circumstances of my own funds, I am afraid could not purchase refreshments to gift you as a visiting present. Again, I apologize." Tenya says aloud, his chest puffing out in suspense.
"No, no!" Tensei awkwardly waves him off before he even tries to bow in front of his elder brother. "It's fine, really! You don't need to bring me anything at all."
There was a brief silence from Tenya as he eyed his brother from afar. "Nonsense," he says as he straightens his glasses, "consuming lots of nutrients on a continuous daily basis is the best way to regain your health and energy."
"You're always so obnoxiously bossy, do you know that?" Tensei tried to joke. "Why don't you have a seat, brother?"
Looking around, he notices that only one out of four vacant beds are filled with one chair accompanying each bed. There is a serving tray right next to Tensei's bed, where a half eaten porridge sits untouched.
"I... shouldn't. There are still more work to be done." Tenya clears his throat.
"Oh, come on. Have some rest for the day, won't you?" There was a hint of sadness in his tone.
Unknowingly, Tenya narrows his eyes at him. "I am afraid I can't, brother. Any nonessential action can only delay the progress of our work. There's still several more paperworks that needs to be done."
There was a sigh. "You haven't being doing my work, have you?" Tensei asks with a low, sorrowful tone.
Tenya blinks. Twice. "... Head General Aizawa came to me the other day and-"
His brother groans aloud in agony, enough for the whole room to hear. Tenya watches as Tense begin to palm his face with both hands, hiding his obvious disappointment.
"You shouldn't have done that!" Tensei cries to Tenya.
Tenya seems tense, and also a nit taken aback. "I'm sorry, I... I have no idea how this would be worrisome to you."
"Listen, Tenya," Tensei scolds, pinching the bridge of his nose in stress, "I appreciate your work, I really do! But you shouldn't try to get into anything that goes between me and the upper ranks!"
Tenya stands silently, his heart got caught up in his throat. There is something rising inside of him: disgust.
Truth be told, he hates this cowardly side of his own brother. The way Tensei tries not to get involved with the higher up from the police force, whether that is a General or a Head Lieutenant, it's the only thing that can piss Tenya off.
God knows Tensei changed the day he got promoted to a First Lieutenant.
"Dammit... now I gotta explain it all to Aizawa..." Tensei says with a muffled growl. "You really shouldn't poke your nose into somewhere you don't belong, Tenya..."
"... I should get going, then." Tenya finally says after a brief silence. He bows before heading towards the door.
"Yeah... you do that..." Tensei mutters under his breath before calling towards his brother, "And if anyone asks about me, tell them that I'll be checking out by tomorrow."
"I wish you good health, brother."
Tensei nods. "Be good, Tenya."
The door closes between them, ending any feeling of each other's presences. Tenya took a few seconds in front of the door as he stayed silent with nothing but an aura of hatred.
With his rifle strapped to his side, he begun walking away from the ward.
Through the hallway, he can feel his own fastening heart beating against his ribcage, his cheeks tightening as his teeth grits together, and he can even feel his breath getting more and more hitched.
Somewhere in the ward, he stops in the middle of an intersection of hallways before he manages to lash out all of his burning rage. With a fist to the wall, his knees begin to weaken from the pure shivering disgust that fills his stomach.
"'Be good'?" Tenya thought to himself as he grits his teeth. "'BE GOOD'?! This is all YOUR fault! Maybe if you hadn't tried to isolate yourself from the police force, none of the higher ups would've been suspicious! Maybe if you hadn't been so reckless and gotten yourself in a fight with bandits, none of this would've happened! THIS IS ALL BECAUSE YOU REFUSED TO USE YOUR QUIRK!"
Tenya stares at his legs as he finally regains awareness of his surroundings. He places his rifle aside and lifts up his pants before revealing the machinery that was built directly into his thighs.
Exactly six tubes, silver in color and shiny like a barrel of a gun, protrudes out of his legs. Every time he uses it, he would exponentially gain speed and agility.
A Quirked. Just like his brother.
He slowly inhales a good amount of dusty air before exhaling in the same manner.
This is why Tensei hadn't been himself the moment he started joining the police forces. He is afraid of his own Quirk, because he knows that they wouldn't allow such abnormality within their ranks.
But Tenya isn't like his brother, he's not the kind to waste such potential within himself.
"I'll find them... I'll find those who have hurt my brother!" Tenya thought to himself begrudgingly as he continues his way out of the hospital. "I won't stop until I've made them pay for what they've done!"
The young man left, the knuckles that holds the strap of his rifle tightened, whitening incredibly in fury.
[•隙•]
The sound of running water hitting the rocks near the riverbed, the cold and damp weather decorated by the fog that came with his breaths, and the smell of winter pine trees around him.
Izuku stands on top of a giant boulder near a body of running water. His eye stares at the tides crashing against each other in the rapid streams below him. His vision slowly losing focus as he starts thinking about the salmons swimming downstream.
He then shivers in spot; his layers and layers of coats still aren't fully protecting him away from the chill of the season. He looks around, trying to find a way to cross. When his effort bears no fruit, he jumps down from the boulder and begin walking downhill near the riverbank.
He makes sure to take notes of his surroundings. With his sword by his side, he hums to himself a tune... until he heard something flying above his head.
A faint rustle of the trees was heard, a sound of weight pressing down on ice, yet there was no wind nor any signs of life.
He stops at his tracks, noticing the shadow of a person below him, seemingly jumping from trees to trees.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he sees it: a figure of a girl leaping with ease from treetops to treetops.
Kazuho is no doubt the last kunoichi to have ever existed. Her skills in air surveillance are outmatched by nobody else that Izuku knows. The way she coordinates her landings to make sure that absolutely no pressure for snow to fall from the leaves are simply amazing.
As he follows her lead downstream, Izuku innocently catches a small glimpse of the shape of her buttocks wrapped in skintight body armor. Izuku shakes his head, trying hard to forget such thoughts.
Not long after, Kazuho lands just in front of him, falling gently into the snow.
"Dammit, its cold!" Kazuho yelps, shivering on the spot as she rubs her hand between her arms.
Izuku understands where she's coming from, her body armor looks thin enough to be light but not warm enough to generate any heat.
He then takes off one of his coat and gives it to her. "Here. Take it. It'll only be worthwhile."
"Ah." Kazuho responds, unsure of what to say. "N-no thanks, I have my own, remember?"
"What? The nightgown you wore last night or the moth-eaten beggar clothes that you used for 'hiding'?" Izuku asked rhetorically with a chuckle. "Just take it."
Kazuho can't complain, not when she's practically close to hypothermia. When she puts on the coat that Izuku gave her, a feeling of warmth envelops her on an instant.
The coat, while it fits Izuku's form perfectly, Kazuho feels that it is almost too big for her. But the moment she touches the fabric, her fingers instantly felt ticklish from the softness.
"Is this seal fur? It's so soft..." Kazuho mutters, slowly getting absorbed into the cloth, "so warm~"
Izuku merely smiles. "I'm glad you liked it!"
Seeing how his smile could melt a block of ice from a mile away, Kazuho could feel herself slowly burning up. She flushes in embarrassment, hiding her flushed face behind the robe.
"D-don't get me wrong or anything..." Kazuho bitterly told him, "It's just because it is seal fur coat, these things are expensive so... of course it's warm!"
Izuku seems to be taken aback by her response. "How did you know it was seal fur."
Kazuho gingerly pokes at the patterns sewn beautifully on the robes. "These are traditional Ainu clothes. A lot of them wore seal furs as their soft and thick skin creates a such a prized coat."
Izuku notices how drowsy Kazuho seems, he couldn't tell if it was hypothermia eating away her sanity or the warmness of the coat slowly drifting her off to sleep.
"Seals are very sacred to them, you know?" Kazuho explains.
Her eyes seem to be gleaming with nostalgia.
"These clothes they make with these embroideries are called rurunpe, they act as some sort of a religious clothing. The Ainus have gods for everything, even the little things like knifes and fire, same goes for the beat who they call them Kim-un-kamuy. As for the seals, they call them etaspe, it's well known that the Ainu believed them to be 'the Bear of the Sea' due to their gigantic size and shape. Once hunted, the Ainu collects most of their hunt, as a way to respect the gods for giving them food."
Kazuho closes her eyes, thinking. She remembered how long it had been since she last visited an Ainu village. The smell of their exotic cooking, the funny names their children had, and the strange yet interesting stories to have throughout their lives.
"Your knowledge on the Ainu's are amazing, Kazuho!" Izuku says in admiration and awe.
Kazuho didn't responded at once. "... Yeah..."
She misses them.
They're the only kind of people she would want to to get along with.
But... she doesn't like the memory of them. Talking about them. Remembering them. She doesn't like doing all of that.
She decides to not talk about it at all, not after all the discomfort she has been through.
"Lets get going." Kazuho tells the male by her side. "I found a crossing right up front with rocks that even you can leap."
Izuku blinks. Then, he scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. "O-oh, right... Well, then lets head to Sapporo before noon."
The two of them walk side by side, leaving trails of footsteps behind them.
With a worrisome look, Izuku glances at Kazuho. Who seems to be clutching the robe as if it was something dear to her.
"We'll be alright." Izuku starts. "We're going to meet someone first, someone that you probably already know."
Kazuho merely nods, "And you're positive that he's going to join us?"
"I'm sure of it." Izuku tells her without a single hint of doubt.
And so, to Sapporo they will go... and in Sapporo they will find the second individual that they had been looking for.
The legendary leader of the Hakka Samurai Clan.
The King of the Mountain's Roar:
Bakugou Katsuki.
[•終•]
[A/N]
• Satsuma Rebellion :
A revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era.
• Daimyo :
Subordinate only to the shōgun. The modern counterpart resembles close to a Generalissimo.
• Battle of Shiroyama :
The final battle of the Satsuma Rebellion.
• Tuberculosis :
A potentially serious infectious bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs. After the Meiji Restoration, due to the nation's drastic modernization, industrialization and urbanization, it became disastrously prevalent under the new name, Haibyo (lung disease).
• Japanese Red Cross Society :
Count Sano Tsunetami founded the Philanthropic Society (博愛社 Hakuaisha), a relief organization for the injured of the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, later known as the Japanese Red Cross Society. By the start of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the Japanese Red Cross Society was the largest in the world, with over a million members
• Ainu Tribe :
The Ainu or the Aynu (Ainu アィヌ Aynu; Japanese: アイヌ Ainu; Russian: Айны Ajny) are an indigenous people of Japan (Hokkaido, and formerly northeastern Honshu) and Russia (Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and formerly the Kamchatka Peninsula).
• Rurunpe :
Clothes called "rurunpe" were the ones elaborately embroidered with delicate applique. These traditional clothes can be seen only in a limited area, including Shiraoi. "Chijiri" is a general term for clothes which are directly embroidered without applique.
This might be one the fanfics that I've dedicated everything in.
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