Chapter 1!

This, this is kind of a weird one honestly. It's pretty different from my other fics in a lot of ways and I'll do some explaining in the end notes but I really wanted to write this. It's almost more a self indulgence really but I hope it's still enjoyable for others to read. I wanted to put it out as a proper stand alone fic and though I don't currently have the most clear direction I think uploading it is a good idea. Like I said I'll talk more at the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA or the referenced power

Enjoy, more notes at the end!

Chapter 1: A Promised Drink

*Ryuko POV*

Ryuko listened in to the active chattering in her house as she placed the usual bundle of things by her doorway for later that day.

"Already that time of the year Ryuko?" Miruko laughed loudly while the dragon woman was setting the items aside.

It was a rare day that Ryuko and some of the fellow heroes that were her friends had off and they had gathered at her house this time around for their get together.

"I'm still not sure I fully understand this trip of yours." Uwabami admitted as she sipped at her own drink and Gang Orca shook his head at the snake woman.

"Regardless, it's important to Ryukyu." the whale hero reminded, always the most reasonable of the bunch.

"Whoa, whoa, I've never heard of this before," Hawks chimed in in interest, "what's this about?"

Ryuko sighed at the conversation as she turned back to them, already finished packing the items, "If you must know it's simply a tradition in my family."

Miruko laughed once more as she leaned back into the couch, "a bit too vague for birdy over there," she gestured towards Hawks with a thumb, "might need a little more details."

"There's not much to say you know," Ryuko reminded but continued the explanation for Hawks, "every year, someone in my family travels to an old shrine in the mountains to leave some offerings."

Ryuko was a bit annoyed with how deflated Hawks and Uwabami looked at the information but both of them perked up one after the other.

Reaching for another piece of chicken, Hawks pondered a little more, "then, what's the story behind the tradition?"

"And what kind of offerings do you leave?" Uwabami questioned right after in curious excitement, the snake woman leaning forward to listen intently.

It wasn't as if Ryuko was uncomfortable sharing the story but at the current time only Gang Orca, her former boss when she had been a starting hero, knew about it. It wasn't as if the others would care about it and the story itself didn't bother the dragon woman so she saw no reason in denying their requests.

"Well," Ryuko started as she rejoined them and sat back down, "you know how generally quirks can become weaker across generations if they're the same one?" the sharp haired blonde asked, getting a nod of heads from her friends who hadn't heard this story. "My family's dragon quirk has only kept getting stronger and I'm the first one who can actually fully transform into a dragon."

"That's news to me." Miruko's ears perked at the newly revealed information and Ryuko continued on.

"Apparently my great great grandparents, who had been having trouble conceiving a child at the time, found a shrine in a mountain range and made an offering there since they were losing hope and miraculously they got their wish not long after." the dragon woman recounted as her friends who hadn't known the story listened intently. "That's originally where the tradition started and they continued to express their thanks every year."

"Hmm, well now I get why your family might follow that tradition so strictly." Uwabami admitted, though she still seemed a bit unsatisfied.

"That's not all though," Ryuko cut back in, redrawing their attention, "of course by then quirks had already shown up and eventually my great grandmother, whose dragon quirk was quite weak, had used the yearly tradition to wish that her child would have a stronger quirk and once again the wish eventually came true."

"Hmm, not impossible but that's 2 for 2 with your family and that shrine." Hawks stroked at his chin a bit in thought, mulling over the probably strange sounding coincidences.

"Anymore wishes taken care of after that?" Miruko prodded as she knocked back her drink.

"No new wishes," Ryuko sipped at her own drink that Gang Orca had passed over to her, "but the next generations continued asking that their child be born safely and to have a stronger quirk so that's how things came to be with my quirk."

Uwabami in particular looked at the dragon hero in disbelief, Hawks second to her with a perked brow, before she spoke back up, "So you're saying your family has been blessed for five generations and all your wishes are coming true?" the snake woman questioned and Ryuko just gave a nod of affirmation.

"It's not like we particularly ask for much," the dragon woman tried, "we give our thanks, pray for good health, and if a child is coming the parents ask for a safe delivery and a stronger quirk."

Uwabami had a small polite smile on her face, her eyes closed as she was faced towards the sharp haired blonde, "so what is it you offer there?" the snake hero asked, her intentions clear as the others snorted or laughed at the attempt.

Ryuko shook her head in amusement, "I guess I should tell you first that my great great grandparents informed some of their acquaintances but its never worked the same for anyone else."

The other woman folded her arms with a pout, "that's preferential treatment!"

"Can't deny it either given the results for her family." Hawks agreed with the sulking celebrity.

"Her family has been doing this for a long time and very modestly and thankfully at that." the whale man added onto the perspective.

"Even if it only works for Ryuko, I still wanna know what you're offering." Miruko piped back up energetically, eyes back on Ryuko.

"Sake," the transforming woman stated simply, "we always offer a large amount of sake in a gourd."

"Bribing some kind of spirit with booze!" Uwabami exclaimed, her legs kicking out in complaint, "that or someone just stumbles on the sake every year."

"Every year without fail for 5 generations?" Hawks added in and the snake woman grumbled since she didn't have a retort.

"We make the offering at the shrine on May 1st and on June 1st the gourd is found there again, already cleaned and everything." Ryuko explained further and her fellow heroes reacted differently.

Uwabami gave her thoughts first, "Wait isn't that kind of scary?"

"Ever try and figure out who does it?" Miruko followed up.

"It's been like that since the start? That's crazy." Hawks admitted, interested but surprised.

"It's quite the history." Gang Orca reiterated since he already knew the story beforehand.

"Tell me about it." Ryuko leaned back, thinking of the times that she had personally been the one to make the offering.

She had always felt a little strange entering the area of the shrine and it wasn't simply because the place held importance to her family but also because the secluded area felt as if it was significant in general. As if it was a relic of the past with a much greater history than she could know, the land itself possibly almost alive with the stories that it held. Her rabbit eared friend had brought up a curious idea though as Ryuko had never really delved into just what was happening to the sake that was offered. The gourd was always returned on June 1st at the same spot it was offered without fail and since it was related to the tradition of the family since the beginning, no one questioned it.

The group of heroes had eventually moved passed the topic and enjoyed the rest of their time before one by one each had to leave and attend to their own agendas, finally leaving Ryuko by herself. The dragon woman, carefully took the prepared sake and left her house to begin her trek into the mountains.

Her mind now carrying the smallest hint of curiosity.

-break-

Ryuko had walked the obscure upward path enough to have memorized ever twist and turn, every small sight to take in, and the low but comforting sounds of the land around her.

If someone wasn't intimately familiar with the small shrine's location it was difficult to find and even harder to simply stumble upon. Apparently the reason that the gourd was returned on the start of June was because it had taken her great great grandparents nearly a month to find the shrine once more. That being said, even though the path and location were known by the dragon hero's family, it was still quite the journey to make it there.

The low voices of the forest rolled in the background as Ryuko's thoughts went to the recent events. Everyone had heard about the recent attack on UA, particularly the fact that a number of the students had been injured as well as the teaching heroes though no one died, but despite that the Sport's Festival was still going to be held soon. On another hand, the Hero Killer's activity had slowly been increasing which put many people on edge as of late. Ryuko didn't doubt that there were plenty of heroes who could stop the Hero Killer but he got around quietly and there was very limited information about what his quirk was or exactly how he fought.

Despite her wandering mind, the blonde eventually reached her destination as she walked into the small clearing. As always, the shrine sat between the trees and was almost half protected by a rounded wall of rock that stood behind it and Ryuko could hear the babbling water from a river that ran nearby. Walking up to the wooden structure, Ryuko took the gourd of sake and placed it into the offering box in the center of its entrance. The dragon woman backed away from the steps and stood before the shrine to express both her thanks and ask for her family's continued health. From her earlier thoughts, Ryuko even dared to ask that her own strength be able to continue protecting people.

With that final wish, the dragon woman had turned her head to the left, her eyes wandering to another small clearing that stood at the edge of a cliff face. Wandering over to the close by location, Ryuko stood at the edge of the sheer drop and gazed into the distance. The low sun burned a beautiful color across the scenery, and the bustling cities that held both the happiness and trials of life seemed so far away from here. As lovely as this far away shrine was, Ryuko continued her way back to that world of hers.

However, just before she left, the dragon woman turned back to the shrine, "If there really is something blessing us then do you have a name?" the blonde wondered quietly before shaking her head for talking to herself.

As the dragon woman started to exit the shrine's clearing, a jolt ran up her spine and she whirled around in an instant and her eyes went straight to the shrine. Nothing had changed, the sake gourd untouched, but for a split second when her gaze wandered upwards she thought she had locked eyes with something. The blonde haired woman blinked and her eyes darted this way and that but she couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

Ryuko slowly eased herself, there was nothing else here for her.

-break-

*?*

Much like those who left the offering each year, the one who received it would return here as well.

With the departure of the shrine's visitor, a hand reached forward from inside the shrine and took hold of the offering. The boards creaked as the figure stood, the drink in hand, before they stepped out into the clearing. The figure was a woman, her towering stature far greater than that of a normal 'human', and with the gourd in her left hand she removed the cork and took a deep drink of the sake that she only tasted once a year.

From the day of receiving the offering until the time in which the gourd was returned, she would remain as the resident of the shrine. The woman had traveled to many places, some she claimed as a sort of home or territory, and had experienced the passage of time like no other but the tradition of the family that had received little more than her slight acknowledgement intrigued her still. What was perhaps a blink of an eye to her was a changing of generations to them and it deserved some respect from her that they would continue to honor said tradition.

The woman had never once revealed herself to them, interacting with humans meant little more to her than if a human saw a fish, and she saw no point in ever doing so. That was not to say that she had never crossed paths with humans before but the result was either death or a coward's escape after trying to preach to her as if she was one of them.

What were a human's morals to a yokai, to an oni, such as herself?

It took little effort to switch from her usual outfit into more comfortable garments, a white and pale blue kimono with silhouetted light orange fish swimming across it like a pond as well as a pale yellow hakama and a pair of wooden sandals. Looped around the hakama was a thick white rope with two shide hanging from the front of it and the oni took another sip of her sake. The wind waved her long unruly green hair that began lightening about halfway down until it became white at the ends and the pair of light green horns that extended from the sides of her forehead tingled faintly.

In her right hand was the kanabo that she had used all her existence, the spiked club hefted up and resting on her shoulder, and the oni rubbed her thumb against the weapon. Her visitor had asked about their strength but the green haired yokai doubted that it was the same kind that she was familiar with.

While she was a yokai, the green haired oni did have what the humans called a 'quirk' and that power was the reason that she had given that family her attention. The original pair that had made an offering to her each had a quirk that in the smallest sense related to her own. One human, in his last words after battling her had used what for a human had to be precious moments to express the unfairness of the existence of an oni that could transform into a massive dragon. While it was of little consequence to the oni, the thought stuck with her and revealed itself from time to time. So, when the family asked for the dragon quirk of theirs to become stronger in the next generation she had obliged to see how far they would progress.

However, with the change of an age, so changed what was valued. It wasn't enough to forsake them but the yokai was somewhat dissatisfied, or perhaps disappointed, in how the quirk that resembled her own was being used. She did not know the value of this age, her interactions with humans and humans seeking her out had dwindled to nonexistent as time went on, but she knew that the battles for an individual's ideals had died out. That selfishness was no longer common and things cemented into history remained there, in the past.

The oni stood quietly until the light of the sun eventually shifted into that of the moon. Retiring to the shrine, she sat cross legged just barely into the entrance so the moonlight still reached her and she enjoyed her drink. It had been a while since a human had asked for her name and a rolling laughter left her lips.

If the oni still recalled correctly then she had started her life at a spring.

Izumi.

Notes and Stuff

Izumi generally means spring as in water or fountain.

Anyway, in this fic she's a yokai, an Oni specifically, and has a dragon transformation quirk. Much like some of my other stories she's in reference/inspired by a One Piece character. This time around it's Kaido. While I am slightly pulling from another character too, no spoilers, Kaido will be her main influence. That being said we don't know as much as we'd like to about Kaido so while he has strong influence, I'm also incorporating from a number of things and ideas to write out this Izumi.

She's 274cm/9ft tall. Like in If It All Breaks I went ahead and made her about a third of the height of the referenced character.

A Kanabo is a spiked/studded metal or wooden club that onis usually use. Shide are zigzagged streamers usually used in Shinto rituals.

Given that Izumi is an oni with a dragon transformation quirk, I figured that it could help make for an interesting backstory for Ryuko. By no means did Izumi give them a quirk, Ryuko's great great grandparents already each had a quirk that could eventually lead to dragon transformation, but she does give them a bit of protection and blessing albeit in a generally small manor.

If you thought it was strange that I used hero names in the early part then it was cause we don't know Uwabami's actual name and so for the sake of uniformity I chose to just use hero names. I don't see myself focusing on many other characters per usual, I just wanted that scene and I like to think that the heroes with animal/creature related quirks can be friends.

As I said this is a bit of a weird one to write given how different this Izumi is. At no point could I classify her as a hero or villain and while technically that would make her neutral that doesn't quite seem like the right thing. She's a yokai who has lived a really long time and through different ages and not being human in the first place while also generally being indifferent to them means she by no means has the general thought process of a human. She'll take things, fight, and kill without qualms but for the most part keeps to herself without truly getting lonely. Writing her is going to be quite a challenge.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and look forward to more updates from me!