A/N: I would like to thank everyone, who added this story to their favorites and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
Someone decided to come and train for the Sports Festival this early in the morning.
Naruto hummed and stretched her arms as the loud footsteps smacking the graveled grounds sliced through the air. Not many of the first years would come this early in the morning to train. Most of them would come during their break and even then, they wouldn't ask her for help when it came to combat.
The footsteps drummed against her ears. She quirked her lips into a grin and closed her eyes as the caramel-like scent tickled her nose alongside the mutters of several curses. Even this early in the morning and Mr. Grumpy can curse. It wasn't creative but then again, there was nothing about Bakugou that was creative.
It was a shame because he had a nice-face and a decent personality once she got over his Tsundere attitude.
"So did you come here to train by yourself before school begins?" Naruto called out when the door to the gym swung opened. She closed her eyes and released a groan as her limbs cried from the stretch. "Or did you come here to be trained by me before school started? If it is the first then I'll get out of your way."
Naruto opened her eyes and flashed a sunny smile to Bakugou. The blond-haired boy gazed at her for the longest time with a scowl playing on his lips, which wasn't a new expression on him. I wonder what he will look like if he smiles. She bet that he looked even nicer with a smile on his face, probably one of those pretty boys that Ino and Sakura ogle in the news store.
"Not everyone has a pretty boy for a boyfriend, Naruto! Let me have a pleasure of ogling those models!"
Ino's words echoed in her mind and the whiskered teen shook her head.
"You have that offer to help us with our training, don't you?" Bakugou demanded. He looked almost flushed like he was almost embarrassed to come to her for help.
I bet he feels embarrassed to come for help. She wanted to milk it so badly and tease the boy even more for coming to her for help. Would she be able to see his whole body becoming flushed? Because that black singlet allowed her to see more of that muscular body. It would be so fun to find out to see what a muscular guy would look like once flushed.
"Y'know I didn't picture that Mr. Scowl as the type that wants help with his training."
The words hovered in the air and Naruto flashed an impish smile to the blond-haired boy. Bakugou stared at her for a good couple of seconds before looking away from her with a scowl playing on his lips. It was almost adorable to witness the scowling boy like this. After all, it was rare for her to be a witness of seeing him like this.
"You are fucking enjoying this, aren't you?" he grunted. The blond-haired boy looked over his shoulder and the scowl on his face deepened while his red eyes fixed on her own. There was slight annoyance alongside resignation as if he knew that she was never going to let him forget about his request.
"Wow, not only are you good-looking but you are really smart too," she grinned and bit back a giggle when the boy flushed a deeper shade of red. She continued on, "Do you know how much I would kill to have a camera?"
Bakugou only groaned and shot her a look of exasperation but the blush on his cheeks hadn't faded one bit. The boy was probably still embarrassed over the fact that she was openly-admiring his good looks, but she did have a weakness for good-looking faces. The only exception to that rule had been Sasuke. The fact that their chakra were reincarnation of Ashura and Indra probably helped in that regard.
The blond-haired boy scowled. "If I want to win this Sports Festival then I should take advantage on what is on offer."
Those words hovered in the air and Naruto inspected the boy with her head tilted to the side. Take advantage, huh? The guy might scream a lot, was bad at expressing his emotions but he was definitely a lot smarter then most of his classmates. Almost none of them came to her for help so far but it was also the second day.
Maybe today, she would get one more person that wanted her help.
"It probably doesn't help that I defeated that weird-ass zombie, does it?" the blonde quirked her lips into a smile and swung her legs out until she did a split. "That probably convinced ya that I can help you because I don't picture you as the type that would come to a girl for help."
He blinked. "Why the fuck wouldn't I come to you for help because you are a girl?"
"Hey, I don't know how this dimension work," she reminded him. "In my dimension, boys are pretty much sexist assholes that believes a girl's role should be to play support to the male shinobi. Of course, Sasuke wasn't like that and Touya admired me for going against social convention but those two were rare."
"Things work differently here, Whiskers," Bakugou scowled and folded his arms against his chest. "A girl can do whatever the fuck a guy can do and if a girl can fucking defeat a monster then I'm going to fucking learn from her, so that I can fucking kill the competition."
This guy can be really supportive even if his words sounds harsh. She beamed at the boy and looked at her stretched out legs before darting her eyes back at him. Bakugou didn't look back at her, instead his eyes seemed to be rather locked on her legs. It was almost like he was memorizing it or maybe he had never seen a girl stretched that far out.
"Wanna take a picture of my legs?"
Bakugou blinked and spluttered. "Don't say shit like that!"
"Why?" she lowered her chest and stretched her arms out before she locked her eyes on him. "You seem to love looking at my legs, which kinda make sense because Ino, Sakura and Hinata-chan told me that my legs were my third best feature."
The younger boy grew even more red and looked at her like she was insane for having that kind of conversation with him. I don't understand why he has to be so weird about it. There was absolutely nothing wrong about discussing which parts of their body get the admiration of the other gender and it was Ino that started the whole thing.
After a couple of seconds, the younger boy wheezed. "You just don't say shit like that to a guy!"
I kinda need a better explanation but it doesn't really matter. Naruto nodded and closed her legs before jumping back onto her feet. The whole explanation on why she shouldn't talk about her best features could wait. It wasn't even a big deal when she thought about it but people here were different.
They had a different set of morals when she thought about it.
"You really have to give me a list of things that I shouldn't say, Mr. Scowl," Naruto hummed and smiled even wider when Bakugou flushed a brighter shade of red. "Now get into a stance so I can kick your ass."
Bakugou grunted and stared at her. "Are you going to go easy on me?"
"Depends on what you mean by going easy," she clasped her hands behind her head and offered him a playful smile. "If you mean that I'll make your training easy then you should go to someone else, but if you mean if I'm going to hold back then I'm sad to say that I have to hold back."
He scowled. "You should take me seriously."
"I take you seriously then I'll be sending you to the hospital," Naruto said with a scowl. "And then that mouse guy will scold me about how the humans in this dimension aren't like the humans in my dimension, and then he will go on with a long-ass rant. Nah, I'll start slow and then once I see improvement then I'll increase the strength."
The boy looked disgruntled by her words. He scowled but she knew from their limited interactions, that this was the scowl that was similar to a pout. I kinda wanna see him make an expression that doesn't involve a scowl. It was going to be a lot of work but it was going to be worth it. Something told her that a smile from this bastard was going to be worth it.
Bakugou shifted his body around and locked his red, determined eyes on her. "I'm going to make you use your full strength on me."
Determined, ain't he? Giddiness began to flood her whole system and the whiskered teen could only stare at her classmate. There were a lot of things that she wanted to say to him from scoffing at his words to taunting him, but something stopped her. Maybe it was because she probably said a similar thing to Tsunade when she tried to convince her to become Hokage.
She grinned and shifted her whole body around.
"Sure Mr. Scowl and if you manage to get me to use my full strength then I'll treat you to your favorite meal."
Bakugou offered her a feral grin and Naruto knew that she was going to have so much fun whipping the boy into shape.
"So you kinda look familiar to me because you look like someone I know."
Todoroki tore his eyes away from his bowl of soba noodles and focused his gaze on his classmate. It had been a few days since the girl entered the classroom and it never once escaped his notice that Uzumaki Naruto did have a habit of staring at him. Until the whiskered teen utter those words to him, he had absolutely no idea why the girl would scrutinized him.
It turned out that she might have met him in her dimension because that could be the only explanation for her inspecting eyes.
"I do," he lowered his chopsticks and stared at the beaming blond-haired girl. For someone that came from a whole different dimension, she certainly was adjusting to the whole situation like it didn't faze her. Not a day went by that the girl didn't interact with one of their classmates, although she seemed intent on sticking to Bakugou.
She was also the only one that Bakugou seemed to tolerate in his opinion.
"Yup," Naruto flashed him a smile and stared at him with a strange, almost fond look in her eyes. "You look similar to my unofficial boyfriend back home, except well his jawline was just a little bit softer than yours but that is because he looks more like his Mom and his hair was completely red."
What do you mean by unofficial boyfriend? The question was on the tip of his tongue but he swallowed it down. If that question came out of his lips then it would give the girl an impression that he wanted to get to know her. He had no time to get to know the girl and certainly no desire to get close to the girl.
However, her comment did intrigue him if he was being honest with himself.
Shouto eyed her. "And what was the name of your unofficial boyfriend?"
"Well he had the same last name as you and Yaoyorozu and Bakugou told me that people can have the same last name and not be related," the blonde babbled, pushing her ramen back and forth. Her bright, blue eyes had a sincere glow of curiosity and hope as if she was hoping that it wasn't the case. "So to answer your question, his name was Todoroki Touya and that brings me to my next question…do you know him?"
Only the loud chatter of the cafeteria echoed between them. Todoroki gazed down at his soba noodles and took several deep breaths. So in that dimension, his oldest brother was alive. He was alive and dating the girl right in front of him. Would he have approved her? He couldn't picture Endeavor being pleased with a blonde that chatted endlessly and who seemed to have no filter.
"I know him," he said blankly. "Touya-niisan is my oldest brother."
Naruto blinked and snapped her fingers. "Then that makes you, Shouto! The rascal that tried to graduate early but your parents and Touya put their foot down when it came to it! In my dimension, Touya kept telling me the story about how you tried to convince your parents to take the early graduation exam like he did."
Her blue eyes glowed with excitement and all he could do was stare at her. Early graduation? My parents? It sounded like his parents were together in her dimension as in that they were living together. Did it mean that his father wasn't an asshole in her dimension? And the word rascal implied that he was close to his siblings.
That he actually had a relationship with them.
"Is my brother a shinobi in your dimension?" he asked.
Naruto nodded and smiled. "A really good shinobi too! Your whole family in my dimension are shinobi from your Mom to you."
"Even Natsuo and Fuyumi?" he cleared his throat and rubbed his knuckles before gazing at her with curious eyes. His siblings didn't have anything to do with being a hero. Neither of them had been encouraged to become heroes if he thought about it carefully. There had been nothing that indicated that either of his siblings wanted to be heroes.
The blond-haired girl bobbed her head. "I haven't met Fuyumi but I know from Touya that the Fuyumi in my dimension was teaching in the Academy alongside Iruka-sensei. I know from both Sakura-chan and Touya that Natsuo is a medic-nin, which is kinda amazing because you got to have the motivation and chakra control for that job."
He stared at the girl for the longest time. It might have been minutes or it might have been seconds but all he could do was look at her. There were a lot of things that he wanted to say to her. Is Endeavor a dick in your dimension? Was his father a nice guy in their dimension? And why was his sweet mother a ninja? So many things didn't make sense.
Actually, there was one more thing that didn't make sense.
"How old is my brother in your dimension?" he tilted his head to the side and eyed the smiling blond. His classmate was supposed to be a year older than him and if he took into account his brother's age if he had been alive, then it would make Touya…22 years old. There was no way that it was legal for his brother to date her.
The blonde hummed and leaned against her seat. "22 years old and yes, I know that there is an age difference between us but it is pretty normal in my dimension for a 16-year-old kunoichi to date a 22-year-old shinobi."
"I didn't say anything," he said flatly.
Naruto snorted and lifted up a chopstick from her bowl before quirking her lips into a rather bright smile. "Sure but your expression when I told you that I was dating your brother, tells me that you find it weird that he would date me when it is illegal in this dimension."
She is actually sharper than she looks. Todoroki inspected the older teen for the longest time. There was still a bright, knowing smile playing on her lips as if she was pleased to know that she had him. It was odd. It was extremely weird to know that she could figure him out from one expression and it was even odder to know that his oldest brother would date someone like her.
"I wouldn't picture you as someone that my brother would date," he admitted. "You don't exactly scream the qualifications that my Father would prefer in his children's partners."
She hummed. "From what I know from Touya, your Dad don't give a shit about these things but maybe he is different in this dimension. With how much your brother raved about Enji, you would think your Dad can do no wrong in his eyes. I kinda envied him because your Dad really love the hell out of the four of you."
Love us? He made our lives hell but in your dimension, he is a loving Dad? He couldn't imagine it. There was nothing about his Father that screamed loving if you asked him. Every memory that he had was of the man hurting their family in some way and form and yet, he was a loving father in her dimension.
It was hard for him to believe.
"So…what does Touya do in this dimension?" Naruto asked, tilting her head to the side. Shouto blinked and stared at the blond-haired girl, who looked at him with knowing eyes. Did she know what was going through his mind? He sincerely doubt it. "Is he becoming a hero like you? Or does he have another job? I can totally picture Touya becoming a hero with his morals but he was a good interrogator, so maybe he works for a secret service?"
The blonde continued to babble about the possible jobs that his older brother could have, and all Todoroki could do was feel his heart racing with anxiety. It was becoming increasingly clear from the glint in her eyes that she liked Touya. That the relationship between his oldest brother and her might have been really serious.
There was no way that the girl could be this fond of his brother without having serious feelings for him.
He didn't want to be the one to tell her but he was also the only one that could tell her.
"Touya-niisan died when he was 13."
The bright smile on Uzumaki's face faded and the joy in her eyes died, replaced with an intense grief that made his stomach curled with unpleasantness. He didn't want to tell her but it was better for her to know then for her to go looking for his deceased brother. Besides, it would be difficult to explain to his siblings about Uzumaki's situation.
He barely understood it himself.
"So Touya is dead," she repeated as if she couldn't believe him. Todoroki nodded and waited for the girl to deny his words because that was the first stage of denial, but the whiskered teen only closed her eyes. No words were spoken between them and all he could do was watch as tears dribbled down from the girl's eyes.
What should he do? Should he give her a handkerchief? Pat her on the back? There had to be something that he could do to make sure that the girl stopped crying over his brother's death. Something that could make her slow down in her tears. But I guess she knew him and that is why she can grieve for him. He never got to know his brother.
His oldest brother had been a stranger to him.
"I don't know if your Touya was anything like the Touya that I knew but he was an amazing person," Uzumaki said, clearing her throat. She offered him a wobbly smile and wiped away the tears that streamed down her eyes. "He loved all of you, especially you. You have no idea the amount of times that he couldn't stop talking about how amazing his youngest brother was and how you would surpass him."
Would he have been like that? What would life have been like in that dimension? From the way Uzumaki talked, it really did seem like his family was different in her dimension. He had a relationship with his siblings in her dimension. It sounded like that none of his siblings resented him from being born.
It was almost like a dream and it was a dream that he would never experience.
"You really loved my brother, didn't you?"
The words floated in the air and it was not long before Uzumaki pinkened. She rubbed the back of her neck and offered a nervous laugh. "Well love is a strong word, don't ya think? I don't know much about love but your brother made me feel special, and he understood me. I never wanted much but when it came to Touya, I always wanted more and…"
Shouto waited for the blonde to continue on, but she shook her head and looked down at her hands. There was almost a contemplative look on her face as if she was deep in thought. There was a huge chance that she could be gathering her words and thoughts but there was a chance that she didn't want to talk about it.
"It doesn't matter anyways," she shook her head. "But I'm really sorry for your loss."
If anyone should be apologizing then it should be me.
He never knew his brother while Uzumaki seemed to have more intimate knowledge of his brother that he would ever possess. He should tell her about the limited details of his brother's death but there was a reason she didn't ask him. Perhaps, Uzumaki thought she was being kind by not making him relive the day, or maybe she didn't want to know—at this moment— how his brother died.
"I'm sorry that I had to be the one to break the news to you."
It would have been better if it was Natsuo who broke the news to her.
It is fucking annoying to see her like this.
Bakugou tightened his jaw and balled his hands into a fist as his eyes focused on Naruto. Ever since breaktime, the blond-haired girl had been laughing and smiling like a clown. Not the happy-type of clown that irritated his skin but the sad kind that made him want to throttle her. If it wasn't for the fact that he fucking hated attention, then he would call her out for her behavior.
Now that it was the end of the school day and almost everyone had gone back home, he was going to confront the girl about her behavior.
"What the fuck got you in a bad mood?" His voice rang in the air and it was not long before Naruto turned around to face him. She stared at him with wide eyes before flashing him a large smile. Irritation boiled his blood. That wasn't the stupid, happy-go-lucky smile she would give him. Not the stupid smile that grated his nerves.
Naruto cleared her throat. "And what makes you think I'm in a bad mood? Do you see this smile on my face? I'm in a good mood."
He clenched his jaw and reached his hand out to her wrist. The whiskered teen jolted and he ignored the warmth seeping out of her wrist as well as the alluring scent of her citrus body soap. I fucking hate liars and I hate people that pretend to be something that they are not. The words wanted to come out but those big blue eyes made him not want to swear at her.
"Do you think I'm a dumbass like the people in our class?" he demanded. "That stupid smile on your face reminds me of a creepy sad-ass clown, not like your fucking annoying smiles."
Those annoying smiles were a pain in the neck because of the stupid sincerity and warmth behind them. It kept giving him stupid feelings but he certainly preferred seeing those annoying smiles then this. This smile makes me want to fucking murder someone. Heat began to form beneath his hands and Bakugou quickly dispelled the explosion that threatened to come out.
"You really know how to make a girl feel special, don't you?"
Amusement colored her tone and normally, it wouldn't bothered him. He didn't fucking care one bit but a sense of guilt crept into his stomach. Why the fuck did he feel guilty about this? He was telling the truth but those blue eyes still looked pain. The old hag will scold me if she knew what I said to her. That was the only reason that the guilt crept into him.
"I fucking don't know what the fuck to do," he grumbled under his breath. Bakugou flickered his eyes to Naruto and blinked when the whiskered teen let out a little laugh as if she found his words to be amusing in some way and form. Anger should have flooded his system alongside the crackles on his palm but all he could do was stare at her smiling face.
He relaxed his shoulders.
"I can tell," Naruto said with a laugh. "And if you wanna know what the cause is my bad mood, then it is because I just found out that in this dimension, that my boyfriend is fucking dead."
Oh. Bakugou stared at her for the longest time. Uncertainty flooded his system alongside a sense of awkwardness washed over him. What the fuck can I say? That I'm sorry for your loss? He didn't know shit about this kind of thing. It was one thing to say sorry when someone lost their grandparent but their boyfriend? Nah, that was some serious stuff that wasn't in the same level.
So he could only say one thing.
"That sucks," he grumbled, looking at her. Naruto nodded and gently pried his hands off of her wrist before she made her way back to her original seat. There was an air of mourning around her as her feet dragged to the chair. Shit, did he say something worse? And why the fuck did he care about her being sad?
He took a deep breath and made his way to her table. Sweat formed around the palm of his hand, threatening to explode if he made any contact on the table and Bakugou took a seat on the chair in front of her table. The chair swirled around until his whole body faced the trembling blond-haired girl.
"It sucks and I shouldn't be this fucking sad," Naruto declared. She swore under her breath and rubbed her eyes before flashing him a wobbly smile. "I feel so fucking pathetic for being this sad because he isn't my boyfriend, but there is nothing in this fucking dimension that make sense. People treat me like I'm a fucking kid when I'm an adult in my dimension. My Dad is alive and it feels so weird! Kakashi-sensei is an ass and my dream might be taken away from me."
Bakugou stared at her for the longest time, almost uncertain of what to say to her. It was some heavy shit. Heavy shit that needed someone sensitive and he was anything but sensitive. This is fucking Deku's specialty. His childhood classmate had always been in touch with his emotions, always crying over the smallest thing.
"You can have a new fucking dream," he grumbled. "And so what if your boyfriend is dead in this dimension? You have fucking memories at him and you act like a fucking kid so what is wrong with being treated like one?"
Naruto stared at him. "Do you have a dream that you have been working on since you were a little kid? I spent a whole lifetime striving to become Hokage and I haven't been treated like a kid since I graduate the Academy. I might be naïve at times, childish even but it doesn't fucking mean I like being treated one. As for Touya, I just guess I have hopes of seeing him again even though I know nothing can happen between us."
There was nothing that he could say to her. Nothing that he could say to reassure her when it came to those words because apparently his last words hadn't been that helpful when it came to her. And I guess if someone took away my dream then I'll feel frustrated, angry and maybe even upset. Shit, if he couldn't say anything useful then he better make an offer for her.
"I have a goal to be the Number One Hero," he stated. "So if someone fucking take my dream away then I'll be fucking pissed but I won't cry about it. I'll fucking stand up and work for it or I'll find a new fucking dream instead of wallowing in sadness. You can also fucking try and find a way back home."
She stared at him. "I don't have any abilities that allows me to do inter-dimension travel and I'm not smart enough to understand the physics in this place."
"I will fucking help you," he grunted. "Consider it payback for helping me earlier."
The whiskered teen stared at him for the longest time before flashing him a bright smile. He blinked and then yelped when the whiskered teen tackled him into a hug. The chair crashed onto the floor, the table pushed backwards and all he could do was stare at the twinkling blue eyes of the beaming girl.
One stupid offer and she is back to being cheerful.
Whiskers was one weird girl.
"You're the best, Handsome!"
He felt all of the blood rushed straight to his cheeks and Bakugou looked away from the sunny, teasing smile that belonged to the whiskered teen. It was stupid for his heart to race at that stupid nickname. It was not like he didn't know he was attractive but that smile did stupid things to his stomach.
"Don't call me that, Whiskers!"
Naruto let out a throaty laugh and smiled at him.
"Why should I? You look even more flustered with this nickname so Mr. Handsome is going to be your permanent nickname."
I'm going to pay her back for those ridiculous nickname.
No way was he going to be the only one flustered in this classroom.
A/N: Please do tell me of your thoughts about this chapter.