The Path of Grace
Summary: A Young Izumi's heart is broken when she finds out she's quirkless. But after stumbling on a TV interview of a quirkless but successful actress, she thinks she found her path to greatness.
Warning: Fem!Izuku
Izumi remembered watching that video clip of All Might so many times when she was young. His boisterous laugh, his unbeatable smile, his unfathomable strength; all Izumi ever wanted was to be like him. She also remembers the first time someone told her to give up on her dreams. That insensitive doctor and his blasé attitude towards shattering my dreams as he tells she was quirkless. Izumi emembered all the various put-downs her peers and classmates blasted at her. On how they looked down on her because she was quirkless. And most of all, Izumi remembered her mother apologizing while crying.
'But that's not it…That's not what I was looking for.'
Shouting the questions she'd always stopped herself from asking…
"Even if I don't have a Quirk, can I become a hero? Can someone without a quirk be like you?"
These questions felt like validations. Questions that plagued her whole life, questions that other planted into her; these were the questions she felt needed to be asked but had the courage to speak up about. But here was All Might, the one person who could answer her.
Hearing his voice, as if asking himself, "Without a quirk…?" That was before All Might suddenly started cursing. "Oh no, horii shitto, goddammit…" It confused Izumi but she hadn't looked up yet. But in that moment, she felt as if the whole world suddenly shifted in its axis. That something significant was happening.
She always trusted her instincts.
She looks up abruptly and watches as her idol deflated; steam rising up and covering most of the rooftop they were on. Izumi had to blink away her surprise as she looked at the nearly skeletal man before her. "I'd say that you should blow off some steam since you've been sounding so tense the past few minutes… but I didn't think it would be literally." Her nearly deadpan voice seems to have jolted Skele-All Might and the hero sputters to the side with blood splattering out. But the red cheeks of her idol gave away that he found her quip funny.
Wheezing a bit and wiping the remaining blood off his chin he says, "Please stop with the comments. My heart and lungs can't take it." Unfortunately, Izumi REALLY doesn't have a brain-to-mouth filter and her sarcasm game is always on. "Well, I'd say we're past that already since you so kindly deflated like someone punctured a blow up doll." Once more, All Might had to look to the side and cover his blood spluttering mouth to try and contain his laughter. "Please stop, little miss! I'll answer your questions but please stop with the quips!"
Let it be said that All Might appreciates jokes made in his expense; it was the whole reason why Sir Nighteye was so persistent to be his sidekick. Izumi sighed and stood up from where she had been kneeling the past few minutes and dusted her skirt. "Thank you, for humouring me… But All Might, I'm a bit more worried about you. I'd heard your cough on the way here and now looking at you so deflated and just laughing made you spew blood… What is happening? You'd been steadily decreasing your public appearance for the past few years. Is this current form of yours the reason why?"
All Might startles and looks more closely at Izumi. "Little Miss, your perception is extraordinary. Are you sure you're quirkless? It's almost just like my previous sidekick, Sir Nighteye whom can read the future. Most people would jump to the conclusion that I was a fake."
"With all due respect, All Might; I really am quirkless, extra toe-joint and all. Plus you, yourself, jumped to the conclusion that I would think that you were a fake; don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you. Also, assuming makes an ass out of you and me." She REALLY can't help it. But at least this time, it didn't cause the number one hero to start coughing, again. Instead the blond skeleton just scratched his cheek with his forefinger and had a smile grin on his face. "Warui na, ojou-chan. People tend to not take me seriously in this form; whether I'm working or just a civilian." Izumi cracked a grin and nodded. "So? Am I right? This form of yours is a limitation of yours? Certainly, I've actually seen that form as your PR and assistant the last few years. Which is why I wasn't so surprised really. I always trust my instincts; and this tells me exactly that my theory is correct."
All Might was silent for a minute or two, digesting the information that Izumi presented. It wasn't far-fetched after all; he's gone in public as his own secretary in his weakened form but nobody quite got it in the nose that it was one of his two forms. "You're quite smart, little miss. And your instincts are spot on. While I retain my strength in both forms, I tend not to use my strength, however diminished, in my smaller civilian form. Though to access my full power, I do need to muscle up. Much like, you know how the guys at the pool are constantly flexing and posturing. It's like that."
This gave the hero some pause. He just basically told this girl the basic information of his quirk and he didn't even hesitate. Did the girl have a polygraph quirk? But no, she said she was quirkless. At the same time, everything she's said and done up until now pointed to the girl having a psychic-based quirk at the very least. Before he could speak up again, the girl started, "And still, you're the fearless All Might! You save everyone with a smile, the greatest hero! BUT! That means that your power really is an augment type! I mean it was obvious from the start. But people have been speculating about your quirk for years and the main argument is that it was augment, emitter, or stockpile. Well it can be augment and emitter but I doubt it. The feel of you jumping like that, nothing was 'emitted' it was just a very powerful jump!"
All Might felt a lump lodge itself on his throat. Just a few minutes with him and already, this girl has guessed the quirk he's been hiding his whole hero career. Not even Sir Nighteye found out about his quirk until he outright explained it to his former sidekick. Pursing his lips in discontent he faced the girl fully with as much as a serious face he can muster. Which is utterly terrifying considering he looks like a somewhat healthy looking preserved corpse; he had to change his expression upon seeing Izumi's face contort into horror.
"I have a feeling you're about to say something serious and all… but please, All Might, never show that serious face of yours in that form. I felt like I was in a cliché horror movie where the monster is about to reveal its true form for the first time. I don't think your fellow heroes and even villains can stomach that look if you face them like that." Really, this girl needs to tone it down. It's becoming outright rude but still hilarious to hear her. This, unfortunately, has once more made All Might splutter in hilarity tinged with his blood.
"Do you ever stop with your remarks?" All Might asked wiping his mouth once more from blood. Izumi shrugs, "Sorry, I've been told I don't have a brain-to-mouth filter." All Might blinks, "Sarcasm is a sign of intelligence… I'd say you're quite a genius, then; of the smart aleck type." Izumi just grins widely, "I'd bet you're quite the same, All Might."
He just chuffs before he sobers back up and sits down, his back bracketed by the railing of the building. "But… a fearless smile... All that you've said hits too close to home. Since you've already deduced majority of my secret, a few more; doesn't hurt as much. All this information, please don't write about this online, even accidentally." Pulling up his shirt, it exposed the horrid and still raw-looking injury. "Five years ago, I got this injury from an enemy attack. Half of my respiratory organs were destroyed, and I lost my whole stomach. I've been emaciated from the numerous surgeries and aftereffects. Right now, I can only do hero work for about three hours a day.
This information sent a shiver down Izumi's spine and let out a whimper of fear. It confirmed a lot of her theories but also made her uncomfortable with the fact that whatever happened to All Might may have a correlation to her recent behaviour. For the last five years, not only had she pushed herself in training outside her Geisha training but also in different areas of self-defence and offense as well. It was also five years ago that she suddenly started forward in becoming a school idol in both her elementary and middle school years.
"This… can't be… Five years ago, was that the fight against Toxic Chainsaw?" To her, it felt like too much a coincidence but at the same time a chill is going up and down her spine about this so-called coincidence. But she'd rather focus on facts right now, so she'll ask the questions that relate to him and not her.
"You're well-informed; but a punk like that couldn't defeat me. The fight that made me like this wasn't made public to the world. I asked for it not to be made public. I will keep saving people with a smile! The Symbol of Peace must not be daunted by evil. I smile to how the pressure of heroes and to trick the fear inside of me." This took Izumi back and for once, she thought to herself, 'So, even he has things he fears.'
"Pros are always risking their lives. I cannot simply say, 'You can be a hero even without power.'" And it was these words that had finally hit it home for me. 'So even the great hero All Might only see the value of quirks in heroics.' Her silence felt heavier than All Might expected, for a girl who spoke her mind; it must have been a heavy blow for her to be silent now.
Standing up, he needed to make sure this girl knew and understood the dangers being a hero is. "You have wonderful insight, young miss. Almost as good as some of the perception and foresight quirks that I've encountered. If you want to help others, then you can become part of the police force. They're often teased because they get villains delivered to their doorstep, but it's also a fine occupation. We, heroes, cannot function properly without police cooperation. The police investigate, the heroes act and we keep the public safe. It's not bad to dream, but you also have to consider what is realistic little miss."
As All Might closed the door to the rooftop, Izumi felt her heart crack just a bit more. She understood all his points; it's not like she hasn't been told the exact same thing by people most of her life. Her mother, her friend, her peers and sometimes even her instructors has told her the same words, repeatedly. It really proves that quote, "Don't meet your heroes."
Distantly, she can hear the sound of an explosion, but she was too deep in her thoughts to mind it.
But she's come too far, already. 10 years ago, she talked to her father learn to be a lady. So that she could be just like Kyoko-sama respected even if she was quirkless. Tonight, she was the star of a private function. Where her instructors would validate her training and the city officials learn that she deserves respect for her skills and not her quirklessness.
But it wasn't just Geisha training she'd been doing for the last ten years. Two years after she started training to be a lady; she trained to be a fighter too. At the age of 6, Kacchan had started to become more aggressive as more and more people praised his flashy quirk to be hero-worthy. It also didn't help that, at that time, there were groups being formed to be anti-quirkless. It had been slowly been gaining momentum; starting from the western countries, its ideologies were reaching Japan at an alarming rate. While a lot of the adult population of the world was still quirkless; each generation born had more and more chances of having a quirk. The quirkless were quickly becoming the minority.
The government of Japan while previously had been predominantly quirkless individuals in various levels in each ministry; has been slowly filled with quirked officials. By the time that Izumi was six and a half; much like the rest of the world only 20% of government officials were quirkless. Far-Left politicians, where suppression of quirkless individuals was their goal, dominated the ministry. They were campaigning to segregate the quirkless from quirked individuals, "so that they can be safe." But the truth was, they were treating being quirkless as a disease instead of just being left behind the evolutionary cycle. The chances of a quirkless individual to give birth to a quirked child were 50/50 at best.
People were starting to believe that being quirkless was a genetic defect that could be hereditary. And this scared a lot of people. 200 years ago, the world was the polar opposite. A time when quirked individuals only numbered 5% of the total population of the world was but history now. These politicians had convinced majority of the people that for the sake of the quirkless' own good that they be not exposed to the dangers of people with quirks. But everyone knew that was just an excuse to make sure that quirkless people won't interfere with the quirked, since now they're the ones considered as normal.
Everything was about to snowball into hell before suddenly, huge corporations like Vongola Corp., Millefiore Industries., Cavallone Inc. and Shimon Corp started advocating equality rights for both quirked and quirkless. All of them were international companies controlling half the market of the world's fashion, tech, weapons and food sectors. If they don't support or boycott those who support those who advocate the suppression of quirkless individuals there would have been an economical backlash that the world had not seen for over a century. The last time this much political unrest was when quirked individuals were few but had a leader of such power that he was comparable to Hitler.
These corporations pulled all their resources to keep all individuals safe; Izumi was too young to remember but things quieted by the time she was a 2nd grader. It was those dark months that Izumi watched her idol, Kyoko-sama become a more visible activist towards equal rights. And it wasn't only her, other powerful and famous quirkless individuals rose up to the challenge and proved to the world that they weren't less than their peers just because they didn't have a supernatural power.
"It's called supernatural or paranormal because it WASN'T normal or natural! But we see these powers as a part of human nature now, isn't that right? Centuries ago, a man who thought that every other race but those who were Aryan; the perfect examples of blue-eyed, fair-skinned and light-haired people were the dregs of humanity. And then, after a century or two he was proven WRONG, because humans still evolved! That's right! Quirked individuals are the evolution of humanity but sometimes evolution needs time to catch up. It took us thousands of years to shed the vestiges of our primate cousins. It took us thousands of years to stand upright. It took us thousands of years to start civilization as we know it. And they, the quirkless just needs time to contribute to evolution and more than likely in half a century no child will be born quirkless. We progress towards higher evolution but we cannot forget our kin who needed time to catch-up. They learned to accept us, quirked individuals. We need to learn to accept them."
It was a powerful speech given by a powerful man leading a powerful nation; a man whose ancestors suffered under the hands of others due to the colour of their skin. Of course, it didn't wipe out the widespread bias of quirked vs. quirkless but it taught people that it's not the quirkless' fault they were born like that. By the time all the heat of that mess ended, Izumi had been learning self-defence for a year.
It had scared Hisashi that his daughter would most likely burn because of the rest of the world so he had her start on learning to fight. Because Izumi was so good at dancing in her Geisha classes; the fight trainers of the secret spy school she didn't know she was half attending recommended for her to learn Capoeira. The moves and techniques of capoeira were far faster than the delicate and graceful movements of traditional dances but they saw that Izumi loved it.
Alongside capoeira, they thought they should teach the young girl to know how to do armed combat. But they didn't want to arm her with true weapons like knives or such and the bo, was too heavy and cumbersome to incorporate into capoeira. It took a while but they found that Arnis was a good fit. While Arnis can use knives and other sharp objects it mostly uses short blunt objects to deflect, as it was a defensive martial art. Since one of Izumi's strengths in her Geisha training was using fans with dancing they thought a tessen would work fine with her.
This combination made her all the more protected…
And deadly.
Hisashi had commissioned friends of his who had quirks related to metallurgy and mineralogy to make a decorated but sturdy tessen for his daughter. What came out of it was obsidian like metal fan with dark red rubies, dark green emeralds dotting the inside of the fan itself and two white diamonds on the outside. It was made in a way that it folds like a regular fan as if nothing was in-between at all. Through the years they added sharp metal tips made of an unknown but strong metal that can be retracted on the end of each rib. Izumi always carried it with her, hidden on a compartment on her thigh, hidden from view unless someone pulls her skirt up. She also has other tessen but they were less decorative but all had the sharp retractable tips; though these were made from regular steel.
Finally, when Izumi started to develop muscles and started into puberty she chose to add to her repertoire of skills. She had grace, she had speed, and she had dexterity. That left behind pure strength or power. While looking into aikido, judo or jeet kune do; she found krav maga. Its nature was self-defence but the power and technique behind it were from offense oriented martial arts. So while she couldn't have the brute strength for offensive type martial arts the techniques of Krav Maga made up for it. Blows that felt more powerful than it looked.
All these thoughts, her memories, swirled in her mind as she walked. 'And so, All Might add to the people who have said the same exact things to me. I... Don't cry, Izumi. You've always known, right?' Izumi said to herself as she wiped the tears threatening to fall. 'This reality, you've know it. That's why you've been trying so desperately. In a way, you've averted your eyes and not looked at reality. In the same way you've known that you can change your fate. I can't give up.' She kept wiping at her tears as she puts away her notebook, which she had been browsing. 'I gave myself a chance when I started training. Even if I have to go through the hard way, I can be a hero after all, I have my path of grace.' She smiled sadly as she looked up.
Finally, the sounds of explosions ring in her ear. 'Oh dear, did I unconsciously go here?' Izumi saw All Might's skeletal form to the side but she focused on the scene in front of the crowd. She felt horror as she watched multiple heroes holding back and shouting out, "Bear with it! Another hero who can handle this is coming!" It broke her own heart and was sympathizing 'This is… the same villain that tried to attack me… Oh no.' Izumi had to cover her mouth in worry and guilt as some tears build up in her eyes once more. She felt partly responsible for this happening. It was an accident that All Might had pulled her up with him but she also should have been mindful of the plastic bottle she knew All Might put in his pocket.
There was fire throughout the whole alley and the heroes were just trying to evacuate as much as many possible civilians because they couldn't combat the quirk. The hostage was still struggling beneath the slime of the villain when suddenly she saw whose face it was when he got his face free. Horrified, she watched her friend desperately trying to take a huge breath but his mouth was covered by that foul slime. His eyes… his eyes….
Without warning or even conscious effort, Izumi ran forward already calculating what to do to at least try to help. Unconsciously, she ould hear Death Arms shout for her to stop, calling her an idiot but… 'Why… Why did I run out?' She could see the villain readying his arm to attack, probably in concert with Kacchan's quirk. 'What to do…? What can I do?' Her mind flashed to her notes. Notes she had written and memorized. 'Page 25!' Kamui Wood's attack, make the opponent flinch back then capture.
So she pulled out two of her reserve tessen, not the one on her leg, and then flung her bag to hit Slimy directly on the eyes. In those precious few seconds, Kacchan had the chance to take the breath of life. Opening her fans, she started digging and flinging away the slime that covered her best friend. "Hold on, Kacchan!"
Bakugou having regained a semblance of consciousness back started berating her while she tried to dig him out. "Why are you here, Baka-Onna?!" Slowly, Izumi was able to actually dig into and remove the slime encasing in big scoops of her tessen. "My legs moved by their own! I still don't know why, though!" In those moments, fleeting as it was, her thoughts turned to her memories once more. That there were various reasons why shouldn't even try or that she was as useless as people once thought her to be. But above all else, she can hear herself cry out her friend's name, "Kacchan!" With a wobbly but wide smile, I answer the question Bakugou had asked earlier, "You looked like you were asking for help."
In that moment, for whatever reason it felt like the winds of change was blowing through. Izumi broke through most of the upper casing of slime over her friend, closing her tessen; using the upper body strength she had been training for years, she used her arms to hug Kacchan and start trying to pull him out. In her struggles, she didn't notice that the slime villain got his act together and raised its arm to hit them. The other heroes charging to try and save her vaguely registered in her peripherals and it scrambled her instincts to pull Kacchan away even more.
Another explosion sounds around them and Izumi felt someone pull her back and let herself fall to the ground, holding Kacchan to herself still. She saw her hero, All Might standing over them facing the villain. "I really am pathetic." The hero mumbled to himself. Izumi wasn't sure if she was meant to hear him. "Even though I've admonished you, I wasn't putting what I said to practice!" In the seconds that All Might pulled both teens out of the villains way, his Slime caught on to All Might, clinging to him to restart the liquid possession process again. But it was useless.
With a declaration, "Pros are always risking their lives!" Slime tried to attack once more calling out All Might's name but he was too slow. All Might was already powering up a Detroit Smash straight to the villain. In those few seconds, Izumi flipped herself over so that she was covering Kacchan's body with her own. Without any more pre-amble, All Might threw his punch while his other hand kept both Izumi and Kacchan to the ground so that they wouldn't fly off because of the wind pressure the attack generated. A localized twister started in their area and heroes scrambled to keep civilians from flying off as well. Izumi had the foresight to engage the steel tips of her tessen and anchor herself and Bakugou to the ground, just in case.
As the winds died down the sky darkened and it started raining. As Izumi felt the first few drops of rain fall, she could hear heroes and civilians alike talking. Saying that All Might changed the air pressure so much it started raining. Pulling herself up a bit, still mostly covering and lying on top of her best friend she peered down at him. "Yokatta." Izumi's voice was tearful but a tentative and joyous smile lit up her face. She felt Kacchan's arms circle around him, something they'd done as friends who frequently slept on the same bed in sleepover as kids. "You idiot woman…." Kacchan had a smirk on his face, it wasn't the first time Izumi had stuck her neck out for her bestfriend and he's learned his lesson that she wasn't useless. No matter how many mean remarks he makes at her.
They were pulled up and put in shock blankets the heroes were a bit too stunned and speechless that a young civilian without a visible use of quirk was able to do something they'd been trying for half an hour. Though there was one ringing endorsement for both, "You'll be great heroes." For Kacchan, it was for his incredible quirk. For Izumi, it was for her successful rescue. They were both let go soon enough and gathered their things. All the heroes were busy, either being interviewed or working with the police to gather the villain for detainment. So they decided to leave, they were both met by their two schoolmates who were dragged by Bakugou earlier.
"I-Izumi-sama! That was… that was…!" One of the boys couldn't articulate but by his heavy blush and excitement filled eyes, they could guess what he was thinking. The other wasn't so speechless, "Awesome! You were awesome, Izumi-kaichou! Our school idol is so cool! Katsuki, your quirk is so powerful! Look at the street!" He was just gushing over praises over his classmates. Izumi just smiled brightly and nodded her head in acknowledgement. Bakugou just scoffed and took Izumi's had to drag her away. "We need to go. I'll see you idiots back at school next week! Baka-Izu needs to get home, now."
Once more, she's dragged by her best friend as she waved her classmates goodbye, who all waved back. Once more, Izumi's head was full of thoughts and let her friend lead her home. She wanted to apologize to All Might for causing him trouble by accidentally releasing the villain in some way. Maybe she'd send a message on his homepage later? Luckily her thoughts decided to stay in her head and not said out loud. She didn't want to blurt out any secrets she promised to keep to her friend. As they neared their homes, Kacchan slowed down and faced her. Kacchan crowded her and held her chin. "Baka-Izu." Izumi had to look up a bit to stare into his eyes, her blush slowly growing redder on her face. "Kacchan?"
Bakugou pursed his lips and slid his hands towards Izumi's shoulders, squeezing the flesh there just a tad painfully, "I never asked for your help! And you didn't help me, got it?! I was fine; the heroes were just a bit slow but you're quirkless! De… Deku, you're smart and you're also talented for being quirkless but you're playing a game without a full deck! I wasn't able to answer earlier because the damn teach came in but I agree with our dumbass classmates! You've got more raw talent than anybody in our whole school even without a quirk! Don't look down on us that just because you are good with so many things that we can't compare! Are you trying to make me owe you?! Don't look down on me! I'll be the greatest hero and you… you'll be that talented idol everyone knows you are!"
Deku, a name that he had once given to me, because he found another way to read mine; this is the first time he's used it since forever. Pushing himself away from Izumi he did an about face and shouted, "Baka-onna! Go home and take a shower already! You can't miss your mizuage!" before he practically ran away from Izumi. The girl was stunned but had to giggle to herself, 'Toughness, huh? He's right though. It's not like I truly accomplished anything, or changed anything. But, I'm still glad. All that happened today just means that the path I've chosen wasn't for nothing.'
Just as Izumi started her way home suddenly All Might shouted his key phrase and appeared in front of her, "I am here!" This made Izumi jump and actually take out her tessen hidden up her leg. It was unfolded and reflected the slowly setting sun; she was down in her capoeira ready stance with the fan acting as an extension to her. Though, she immediately stopped her movement when she noticed her hero. "All Might?! Why are you here? You were surrounded by reporters earlier. Also, that was dangerous! I thought you were some kind of bikkuri-rapist! I could've hurt you with my tessen!" Dropping out of stance and closing her tessen to stash away on her upper leg, she stared at her hero.
"Bi-bikkuri… rapist?" All Might repeated slightly stunned. Shaking off another surprising quip from the girl and started posturing, "It was easy because I was All Mi…" Then, while All Might flexed his muscles, his skeletal form showed up in a spray of blood. Which drew a surprised, "Eep!" from Izumi. Cleaning off the remaining blood, once more All Might looked serious in talking to her. "Little Miss. I come with thanks, a correction, and a suggestion. If you hadn't been there, if you hadn't told me about your life…. I would've turned into a guy in a body suit who was all talk. So, I thank you."
Izumi shook her head, "No, that can't be… it was partially my fault that the villain got dislodged from your pants… That sounds so bad cause he was slime…." Izumi made a disgusted sound on the back of her throat and even All Might looked a bit sick… well, sicker. "Also, I said all those impertinent things to you even though I'm quirkless." Izumi felt ashamed because of her rather rude manners to her hero. "That's right… It was because it was none other than this sarcastic, Quirkless you at the scene that I was able to act." This made Izumi look at her hero more closely. "Top heroes have stories about them from their school days. Most of their stories have one thing in common: Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think." At that moment, she felt tears build up once more in her eyes. Looking down, she felt her hands grip the handle of her school bag.
'For some reason, I remembered my mother's words.'
"I'm sorry, Izumi! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Izumi felt her knees give out from underneath her. Letting go of her bag, she covered her hands over her mouth as she felt her tears gather and fall. All Might's next words… "That was true for you, too, wasn't it?" With her hands covering her mouth she sobbed out, "Yes." As she felt more of her tears fall. Izumi bent her head as she tried to cover her sobbing still.
'That's not it, mom. Back then, what I wanted you to say… The words I wanted to hear were…'
The words I longed to hear from those important to me… from my hero, "You can become a hero." And Izumi's tears wouldn't stop as she let one hand cover her mouth while the other clutched at her chest, as if her chest would burst in happiness. These tears were tears of joy and pain. Joy as finally, someone validated her dream. Pain, because all these years she was told the exact opposite.
'Dreams can become reality. By the way, I forgot to mention that this is the story how I became the greatest hero.'