Disclaimer - Don't own anything in this story aside from my original characters.
Chapter 1 - "Kinoru Inube: Origin"
In a world where 80% of the population has some form of superhuman power or trait, it's not uncommon to see that certain abilities surpass others. Quirks can grow stronger through selective breeding, a method looked down upon in modern hero society.
Kinoru Inube inherited the quirks of his parents, being his mother's quirk Wolf, and his father's Inhuman Stamina. These combined to create his quirk:
Dog - User retains the capabilities of an animal belonging to the canine species, such as increased hearing, smell, resilience, and vision. They also have the physical traits of one, like the small droopy ears, canine teeth, and tail.
Having the traits of an animal known to be the most domesticated of all tends to make others' view Kino's quirk as "Silly", and as stated by his mother "Cute."
From the moment he was born, his quirk manifested. He was virtually indistinguishable from a normal baby, aside from the puppy-like traits apparent to the doctors in the delivery room.
"Looks like he got most of your quirk." Kino's father said, disappointed.
"W-we can try again! He's still your child!" His mother plead, but the man had already left the room.
If it isn't apparent, quirk marriages aren't happy ordeals for most. Insecurities from one of the parents end up in couples separating purely because their child isn't as powerful as they expected.
What Kino's father couldn't tell, however, was that his child would become one of the most loyal and dedicated heroes that the world has ever known.
...
AGE 5
"Can I join?"
Kino asked, causing the children on the swingset to laugh loudly.
Normally, quirkless people were seen as primary targets for bullying.
"Like we'd let a dog hang out with us!" One of them replied, causing the others to laugh harder.
But social stigmas against people with animal-like quirks made them susceptible to it as well.
He was having trouble fitting in on his first day of Kindergarten, with his visible ears allowing others to take a considerably accurate guess as to what his quirk was.
He walked away, tears brimming his eyes.
"Um... are you okay?" A voice asked, it belonged to a girl to his right. She wore a red and white dotted dress with a red beret, her hands behind her back.
Kino sniffled, then nodded.
She held her hand out,
"I'm Hana Naneko! Forget those dummies and be my friend!"
The first person to greet him would turn out to be the most memorable of all.
...
After that day, the two would hang out often, becoming friends regardless of Kino's reclusive nature.
"Nice to meet you...?" His mother continued.
"Hana! You look pretty Mrs. Inube-shi!" The girl replied.
The girl was quite successful when it came to flattery, Kino noticed.
"My, who knew your friend was so nice!" His mother looked happy.
"Stay for dinner Hana-chan, we're having Kino's favorite, Yakitori, tonight."
Hana looked at Kino with an eager expression, causing him to sigh.
"Your choice." He said, hope I don't regret this...
"Ok Ms. Inube-sama!"
...
"Your quirk is called dog?" Hana was sitting on one of the seats of the swing set, her legs kicking out every time she lurched forward.
"Um, that's what the doctor said-" He replied, but was interrupted by the kids from before.
"Get off! This is our spot!" The same one from before said, his hair catching fire.
There were three of them, two girls with odd-looking pupils, and a boy who was known to be able to manipulate the fire from his scalp.
"We should go..." Kino said, but Hana stepped off by herself.
She readjusted her beret, and walked right up to the boy, stopping in front of him with her hands on her hips.
"No."
The boy seemed annoyed, he looked at Kino.
"You're such a loser that this girl is the one defending you."
Hana looked angry, "I'm talking to you, leave him out of this."
One of the girls pushed her, causing her to fall onto the sawdust.
A crowd of children began forming around the group, as schoolyard fights didn't happen often.
"Mutt." The boy started to kick Kino, who was curled up in a ball.
"My mom said that you should treat people with k-kindness..." Kino replied, but yelped when he felt a hand grab his right ear.
"Well, my dad said to treat animals like animals." The flame-headed boy started pulling on his ear, causing him to release cries of pain.
Hana was trying to get up, but feeling disoriented by the effects of the two girls' quirks.
"How's it feel? I can make you dizzy!" The girl on the right said.
"And I can make you see nothing!" The girl on the left added.
Please, stop... Hana thought.
"We won't stop until you ditch this loser." The boy said, pulling harder.
No... She thought, but Kino's eyes made her tear up.
Hana was going to make a decision that she'd regret for the most of her life-
"OKAY! I'M NOT FRIENDS WITH FIDO-KUN ANYMORE!" She yelled, surprising their attackers.
The group laughed, "Fido? That's a good one!"
The crowd looked on as the boy let go, "Prove it."
He pointed to Kino, "Hit him if you're not friends anymore."
Hana saw the bruised and dust-covered Kino whimpering in pain and felt terrible.
"...I'm sorry." She said.
She kicked him square in the chest.
He landed back-first onto the sawdust just as the yard monitors broke up the fight, dispersing the crowd.
The three left, their distant laughter ringing in the boy's ears.
"...It's that dog kid." One of the adults said as they stood him up.
"Let's take him to the nurse, he looks like he's been through a lot."
To Kino, the pain of losing his first friend hurt more than the injuries he sustained from the bullies.
After all, dogs are the most loyal to those who are closest to them.
...
"Kino-kun? What happened to you?"
Sayuri Inube was concerned. Her son had been coming home with scrapes and bruises weekly, with no report of any harassment no matter how many times she instructed the teachers to notify her.
The answer was always the same,
"I just fell while running", "I slipped and fell", "I tripped."
No amount of clumsiness results in fist-shaped marks.
The wolf-woman sighed, "Alright, head to the bath. I'll treat your injuries afterwards."
He nodded, making his way to the bath. He had his own reasons to not tell his mom, Hana is one of them.
If you tell anyone, we're going to bully her instead, got it Fido?
Even if they weren't friends anymore, he couldn't just let her take the brunt of their attacks by herself.
The warm water did well in soothing the bumps on his skin, but the wound in his heart was still painful.
...
AGE 9
"Woah! He's fast!"
Kino could only ignore them, he was too focused on his pace.
Thanks to his quirk, quick long-distance running was a breeze.
He was currently running laps around the school's baseball field, a regular exercise for the students, but it seems that he was the leader of the pack.
The students could only look on as he finished running his last 400m... in 40 seconds without breaking a sweat.
"You aren't supposed to use your quirk Inube-kun." His teacher told him, but Kino showed a dumbfounded expression.
"I can't exactly... turn it off." He replied, causing his teacher to grunt in response.
"Well, you just ran at a pace faster than the world record time for quirk-less sprinters."
He tapped his clip board, "How about you join the cross country team?"
Kino was confused, never had he heard of that term.
"You seem confused, think of cross country like a club for running. Though, you do have to be at least 10 years old to join."
A club for... running?!
"That sounds fun! Let me try it!" He said excitedly.
The teacher grinned, "I'll let your next middle-school know, they'll be excited to take someone with your talent in."
Once he was excused, a bunch of his classmates surrounded him.
"Wow Inube-kun! You're fast!"
"I didn't think you had it in you!"
"Wanna hang out after school?"
Kino, being bullied for his entire elementary experience, didn't know how to react against people who actually liked him.
From a distance, Hana Naneko looked on with a smile.
He's finally getting the attention he deserves. Good for him.
"Hana-chan? You there?"
Kari waved a hand in front of her friend's face, eliciting a slight jump from the girl.
"Hm? Y-yeah."
"Your eyes seem to be wandering to Fido-kun, do you know him?"
Surprised, Hana tried to hide her expression.
"Are you s-serious? Why would I ever be friends with that mutt?"
Kari bought it, and Hana laughed along.
"Right?"
...
[Kinoru Inube]
AGE 13
"-go out with me!"
It was awkward enough having to reject a girl who poured her heart into a confession, but having it be in the middle of the hallway?
"I'm sorry, I have to focus on my studies." I replied, bowing instead.
"We can still be friends... right?" The girl asked, to which I nodded.
This is going to spread like wildfire...
Thanks to his increased sense of hearing, he overheard the hallway's whispers.
"Damn. That's the 12th time this year Inube-kun rejected somebody, that's the cross country captain for you!"
"Poor girl..."
Yep. Already started.
I tried to make my way to the clubroom, I was assigned a task by Coach Koya to organize the place, though with my popularity it'd be hard just to get there.
I was the fastest person in my school's cross-country club, which snowballed me a reputation that I... didn't exactly want.
But I'm happy to be able to freely show my ears and tail and not get bullied because of it. I thought with a smile.
I arrived at the front of the room and slid open the wooden door.
It was filled with people as usual.
"It's the Captain! Non-members get out!"
Most of the students in the room left reluctantly, though their stares weren't filled with hate.
About 6 people remained in the room, only club members.
"Er... Koya-senpai said to clean up this room, there's too many people who keep coming by." I announced, getting a few chuckles from the members.
"It's because of you, Kino-kun."
"Lucky bastard!"
I held my palms out defensively, "Let's just get to cleaning."
It took a until the sun set to organize the clubroom, small-talk passing the time.
"So what high school are you going to Kino-kun?"
"It has to be a sporty one, right?"
I hummed. I never really thought about it, I'd always figured that I'd do what I thought best.
"I don't have one in mind..." I said, eliciting a reaction akin to shock from the club.
"You're not going to Takegawa Academy?"
They were known for their world-class alumni who were often gold-medalists in respective events.
"Uh, no." I replied.
"Koh High?" Another sporty school.
"No."
"Grand Dragon Boarding School?" Academic school.
"Uh-uh."
The last one who spoke thought for a bit,
"What about a hero school?"
Hero?
"Yuuei seems like a good fit." One person suggested, a plethora of "yes" and nods from the members.
"I'm not really into that sort of thing either..." I said, scratching the back of my head.
A girl with blue skin shook her head in awe, "Seriously? Heroes are the coolest!"
I met her gaze, "...Right."
While we were talking, I felt my phone vibrate in my uniform's pants.
I pulled it out and looked at who it was.
Mom: Kino-kun, could you come home? There's someone here to speak to you.
I hummed, "I've gotta go."
I made sure that they knew to close the room properly before I left. As I was walking down the hall, I couldn't help but feel a little unsettled by it's emptiness.
It wasn't until I glanced outside the window that I found the reason.
...
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
A girl's cry echoed throughout the courtyard, with a crowd of students backed away from the center.
The crowd murmured among themselves, with many recording the commotion. I pushed my way through, and my eyes widened at what I saw.
A girl outfitted in our school's uniform was caught in the grasp of a large malformed man who seemed to be about 3 meters tall, he held a knife to her neck.
"Shut up." He growled, he pointed a deformed hand at the crowd of students.
"You brats are attending a school in Murder Gang's territory, pay up or she dies."
To emphasize, a line of blood ran down the girl's neck, causing her to scream once more.
The students were hesitant, surely a hero would come and save her, right?
This bystander effect left them in a perpetual state of questioning, not one person bothering to make a move.
"Let her go you bastard!" I yelled, drawing the man's attention towards me.
His eyebrows raised, "The fuck? Who are you?"
I felt an overwhelming anger boiling in my stomach, and couldn't help but step forward slowly.
DANGERDANGERDANGER
My brain pounded, but I ignored it.
"Let her go... now."
I was now about ten feet from the villain, who was now in a more defensive state.
"Hehehe, a brat trying to play hero huh?" He smiled, showing yellow teeth.
He's going to slit her throat.
What the hell? I thought.
His odor shows pure bloodlust.
I didn't have time to process this information, as I quickly dove towards the man, feet-first.
I hit him square in the shoulder, causing him to let go of the girl. He staggered backwards, and I landed on my feet.
His muscles tightened, an attack is coming.
Still armed with the knife, he charged towards me with the weapon held back.
I thankfully dodged a few of his attacks, but then he held out his arm as he ran past, causing me to get hit by an arm bar.
I collapsed onto the ground back-first, my vision spinning.
HE'S BEHIND YOU!
I didn't think, instead rolling to my right. His arms, which were clasped together at the hands, smashed into the ground where I once sat, shattering the concrete.
The man now had a giant pair of arms that looked swollen under the skin.
"If you're gonna play hero," He lifted his arms. "Then get ready to die like one."
I tried to move, but my head was spinning from the arm-bar's impact.
ATTACK!
I couldn't move, so I prepared for the impact.
...
[Hana Naneko]
A loud scream came from the man's hostage.
I couldn't help but freeze at the sight of the boy who never stood up for himself, run straight into danger.
He had the gall to provoke the man as well.
"Someone should call the heroes..." I murmured, noticing a few too many students recording the fight with their phones.
Someone else will do it...
I shook my head, instead pulling out my phone. I quickly dialed the number for the police, which redirected me to an operator.
"Hello, this is the Kyoto Police Department." A voice greeted.
"H-Hey, there's a villain at Mogetsu Middle School. He has a hostage." I shakily said.
"We'll send a hero right away, please advise anyone present to not invoke them."
Kinoru's ears popped out of the crowd, showing that he was now face to face with the man.
"It might be too late." I replied.
He practically flew at the villain, kicking him square in the shoulder.
The girl was now free, so she quickly ran out of danger with tears in her eyes.
Stupid Kino...what made you think that was a good idea?
I watched as he dodged a bunch of the man's attacks, the crowd around them cheering the boy on.
"Go Kino-sama!"
"Fight! Fight!"
It was clear that Kino didn't pay attention to them whether he realized it or not, his fangs were bared and he had an expression like a rabid animal.
"...Yaah!" The man yelled as he charged Kino.
Kino got ready to dodge, but instead of swinging the knife, the man clipped him with the inside of his right arm.
"FIDO-KUN!" I yelled.
He was sprawled on the ground with his limbs extended, he seemed to be concussed.
I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, getting ready to use my quirk-
BOOM!
What could only be described as a great impact hit the bloated man, causing him to fly a great distance and into the side of the school's building.
Dust covered our vision and I started coughing.
What the hell was that?!
Once it cleared, I was able to see his savior much more clearly.
"Miruko, the Rabbit hero?" I said awestruck.
To any other person, they're just another high-ranking hero, but to those with animal-type quirks... she's done a lot for the community.
I spent so long hiding my quirk from the world... maybe I should talk to her.
"Gaah, this fucker was nasty-looking." She hopped off of the now unconscious man and headed towards Kino, who was staring at her.
"You alright, kid?"
You're so lucky Kinooo!
He grabbed her hand, lifting himself up. He was still staring at the woman.
Miruko crossed her arms, "Didn't your parents ever tell ya that it's rude to stare?"
"My dad left my mom when I was younger." He replied bluntly, causing the hero to emit a laugh.
Miruko noticed the crowd which formed around the scene, and waved her hands.
"Who's the one who called me here?"
Called?
Wait, that's me!
I quickly headed over to the two, noticing Kino's eyes widen as he looked at me.
"Good job, if ya hadn't called me then dog-boy over here would've been hurt." She lifted her hand and set it on my head, patting my hair.
Wait, my hair?
"Hana... Your ears?" Kino pointed at the top of my head, so I brought an arm up...
My usual hat was somehow gone, instead my auburn hair was what I felt... along with my quirk.
"Whoa-ho! Who knew cats and dogs would work together!" The bunny hero quipped.
My quirk was revealed to what was most likely the entire school... and Kino.
...
[Rumi Usagiyama]
Well this is awkward.
After taking down that villain, I took the boy to a hospital near the school for a checkup. The dog-boy seemed rather annoyed that the cat-girl decided to come along... I should really ask for their names.
"I'm just assume that you know who I am." I looked at the two, the boy was laying on the hospital bed staring at the window, while the girl was sitting in a chair next to him.
The girl seemed excited, "Of course! You're Miruko, one of the top heroes in Japan!"
Kid could be a little less excited...
"No clue." The boy replied.
"I guess I'll introduce myself, you can go after." I cleared my throat, "The girl's right, I'm a Pro Hero, but you can call me Rumi."
He stared at me, or what was on top of my head.
"You have an animal-like quirk too?"
Finally caught his interest.
"Don't be disrespectful Kino-kun! She saved your life!" The girl whined.
"So your name's Kino?" I asked, noticing his ear twitch.
He sighed, "I'm Kinoru Inube, a second-year in middle-school" He gestured to his ears, "You can guess what my quirk is-"
The girl interrupted him with a smile, "And I'm Hana Naneko! My quirk is Cat, and it lets me do all the things a cat can do! I'm a really big fan of you Ms. Rumi-sama, I have all of your merch-"
I held up my arms, "I see, thank you Hana-san."
I looked at Kinoru, "It might not be my business, but is there something between you two?"
He scoffed, "Couldn't be farther from the truth. She's got nothing to do with me."
Hana pouted, "How could you say that Kino-kun! We've known each other since we were ki-"
"Clearly not enough, since you bullied me alongside the other kids for something that you had yourself." He spat, silencing her.
This is playing out like a Drama series...
"Thanks for paying for my medical bills, but I've got to go to my club..." He started to get up, but flinched as he grabbed his head.
"You clearly aren't in any shape to be going anywhere." I said, making him glare at me.
Hana nodded and pushed him back onto the bed, much to his dismay.
"She's right Kino-kun! How are you going to get into Yuuei if you're injured?"
Yuuei?
He scoffed, "I haven't even decided on where to go yet, why should I go to some school-"
"It's perfect for you." I said, getting their attention.
"You ran straight into danger to help someone you don't even know, those are some pretty heroic traits."
He stayed quiet this time, contemplating.
So he IS interested...
"If you kids are planning to go to Yuuei, I have an idea..."
I pulled out my cellphone and scrolled through my contacts list.
"I'll give you both my personal number, let me know if you have any questions."
Hana looked like she'd won a million bucks, but Kinoru was indifferent.
"Why are you so interested in us?" He asked warily.
-
"You'll never get into Yuuei with your stupid quirk Rumi!"
-
I smiled,
"I can't be interested in future heroes?"
END OF CHAPTER 1
A/N: So this was going to be a completely different type of story at first, but decided that it'd be pretty interesting with this kind of dynamic. If you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments/review section!
Kinoru won't be OP by any means, and neither will Hana. Though together...