So here's my first attempt at writing My Hero Academia fanfiction. This came about as just an idea I bounced off of my fiance after getting the urge to write thanks to other fanfic authors.I do not own anything from Boku no Hero Academia. BNHA belongs to Kohei Horikoshi.Enjoy.
Three.
Three missed calls.
Who the hell calls someone at four thirty in the morning anyway?
In their defense, thanks to magical things called timezones, it was one thirty in the afternoon. Or was it thirteen thirty? Going from the twelve hour clock to the twenty four hour clock was a pain. Oh, and it was a Sunday afternoon for the caller as opposed to a still dark Monday morning.
Either way, they were purposely being ignored for the millionth time in the last three months and the third time in the last twenty minutes.
Just before the screen went dark it was illuminated back to life with a long buzzing sound, notifying that yet another voicemail had been left on the device. Which would soon enough be promptly marked for deletion just like all of the rest. The phone, for all its dutiful troubles, earned a deeper furrowed brow and a cold, vicious gaze before a throaty growl that rose from the device's owner.
"Dear, I don't think it's going to move," an older woman's voice came from the darkness of the kitchen. Her weathered but soothing tone managed to lift some of the tension filling the room as she quietly entered, nearly appearing out of thin air. "The last I had checked you didn't have any sort of telekinetic Quirk."
She looked up to a young woman sitting on the countertop, her hands gripping the edge tightly, slouching harshly and radiating an air of something between rage and utter and absolute annoyance. The girl's chartreuse eyes flickered as the older woman grew closer before closing completely followed by a long intake of air. Her chest rose and came to a pause as she held her breath, counted to ten, and then exhaled. The anger that had once held her lips in a sharp crease faded and left a more neutral expression.
It was dumb to be angry at the cellphone. It's not like it was at fault for the last three months, right? What was that old saying; don't shoot the messenger? Yeah. It's job was to be used for communication - and the occasional game - it's not its fault that the person who wanted to communicate with said phone's owner didn't… well… want to communicate.
"Sorry, Grandma," she spoke, still eyeing the phone. "Didn't mean to wake you up."
Her hands relaxed enough that her right hand left its perch on the hard edge of the quartz to grab the handle of her porcelain tea mug, raise it to her lips and swallow down the rest of the lemongrass tea she had made as soon as she had woken up. The mixture of the warm citrus flavored liquid filling her and the presence of the soft spoken old woman was enough to calm her to the point she gave the elder an apologetic look and raised a slight smile.
"Oh? I couldn't tell with the racket you made making the tea," she simply laughed, getting even more amusement as a faintly visible blush rose over the teen's darker complexion and her head turned in embarrassment, making her mass of curly hair sway wildly.
"Shit… sorry," the teen girl muttered under her breath, earning her a swift flick of a finger to her forehead. "Ow!"
"Language, young lady," the older woman scolded in a mock serious tone.
"Sorry…"
The old woman looked from her granddaughter to the phone, taking note of the name on the notifications just as the phone's screen faded entirely to black, and then back. The room was now almost pitch black, the fading remnants of moonlight being the only source of light, and even in the dark she could see the girl's emotions, clear as day, worn on her sleeve. She hadn't pried into her granddaughter's home life, and it wasn't her business, but she knew of the tension between the young woman and her family. And she knew the girl was just as stubborn.
"You know he's just calling to wish you luck today."
"Grandma… I told-"
"Ah! I didn't mention a word to your father, Suri" she quickly corrected, holding a finger up. "You refused to let him give you a recommendation. You made sure he didn't hear the end of that one, but with how far back his ties to UA go? It's easy to see that he figured out the exam date through old colleagues. Surely it wasn't that hard at all."
Suri sighed heavily and hung her head, her grip flexing tightly once again on the edge of the countertop. He was the last person she wanted to talk to right now, let alone hear him give her a speech about 'do your best' or 'don't take no for an answer if it stands between you and your destiny' or whatever other bullshit he wanted to feed her.
"And as much as you begged me, I couldn't not tell your father where you were when you first came. It was quite a shock to this old heart of mine to find my sweet little Suri on the doorstep in the pouring rain."
"Yeah, you're right," she sighed, smiling at the memory of looking up out of the cold rain to see her grandma for the first time in nearly five years. Ryo and Daisuke, her grandmother's personal bodyguards however, weren't too fond of her surprise arrival. "If it were up to your goons, I woulda' gone back to The States that night."
Though, they weren't the only two that hadn't liked her presence. Or more specifically, a certain part of her presence. No matter where she went, whether people meant to make it obvious or not, she didn't fit in. Not really. Even among family; she was a mutt. In more ways than one.
"That's because they didn't recognize you. The last time those boys saw you, you barely came up waist high on them."
Fair point.
Suri thought about the last time she had come to Japan with her family. It had been a last minute 'hero business' trip for her dad to see one of his old friends. She didn't know which pro he had met with. Suri had been more fascinated in seeing the house her mother grew up in, meeting all of the bodyguards and Pard members, and, of course, seeing the family matriarch. Back then, Ryo and Dai had just recently been elected to the position of being Grandma Kuroyashi's personal guard detail.. Naturally, the ten-nearly-eleven year old enjoyed pestering the hell out of them. The thoughts were interrupted by the older woman groaning. She had fixed herself a mug of the tea while Suri was deep in her own thoughts, and nearly coughed from her first sip of the drink.
"You used too much sugar again," she shook her head and chuckled softly at the young woman before taking another sip. "Tea doesn't need to be sweetened as much as you try to. It hides the true flavor, dear. Much like you hide yourself."
"Okay, okay, fine," she rolled her eyes at the older woman. "I'll stop adding sugar to the tea."
"And?" Her grandmother stared her down.
Suri gave a big sigh. "And… I'll listen to the message. I can do that much for you at least."
Suri pushed forward, her bare feet padding onto the cool wooden flooring, taking the two steps to span the space between the two countertops that ran parallel to each other and swiped the lock on her phone open. She squinted, closing one eye completely and briefly groaning as the bright light of the screen stung against her eyes. Her finger hovered over the voicemail notification for a long moment. Long enough her hand tensed up and she had to flex several times before her fingers unlocked from themselves and finally hit the screen.
"Hey Suri, it's dad… I know you're still angry with me and Mathias and you're probably not listening to this…"
Suri raised an eyebrow, a smirk crossing her lips as she looked back to her grandmother who had an ever so all-knowing smile curled across her own as she hesitantly sipped her tea.
"I just wanted to say, I'm proud of you. Between trying to get into UA of all places and you turning down my offer? You love making things hard on yourself don't you? But... You've never backed down from anything so… you know… PLUS ULTRA!" The thick baritone rasp in the man's voice roared through the phone with his exclamation. There was a nervousness in his voice, adding the nervous laugh he did when he was trying to be the cool dad. Or maybe he was just walking on eggshells for her own comfort, like she'd run off again. Would she?
As much as she hated to admit it, she missed it.
She missed him... Even if he was a fucking asshole of a dad… Sometimes.
"I know you're in good hands with Grandma Kuroyashi and the Pard. We miss you but if you really want to go, I won't fight you. Love you, Pupkit."
Pupkit. She could be pissed off at her old man as much as possible, borderline wanting to claw him to death, until he said that. Dammit, she wasn't a little girl anymore, why did he have to say it? She hated how she felt at that moment with her head spinning, jumping from warm and mushy happy memories from when she was little to bitter and outright rage inspiring memories of him fighting her every decision and trying to put her in a protective bubble as she grew up.
The message ended and silence filled the room once again. She wanted to scream. Gods, she was so pissed off at him and her oldest brother. There were moments where she outright hated them. But they were just that; moments. She'd always love them but there was one thing that drove her crazy.
"Dammit, old man, you can't try and baby me from five thousand miles away!"
In a huff she started toward her room, her bare feet smacking the smooth wood with every step as she stomped away. She wasn't being childish or anything. Not at all.
Her vision readjusted to the darkness as she passed through the threshold, easily spotting the two sets of exercise clothing, and a set of casual wear she had picked out last night. In one swift movement, two of the three sets of clothing were picked up and stuffed alongside a set of black and green basketball sneakers into a small drawstring backpack. And with another quick movement the oversized tee shirt she was wearing was pulled up over her head and thrown off to a corner of the room. Her body was exposed to the cool morning air inside the house for a few moments which helped ease at least a little bit of her swelling rage. She took the next few moments redressing, pulling on a pair of black knee length compression shorts before fitting a pair of short grey jersey shorts over them. She then took a roll of medical bandaging, wrapping her chest in the beige strap and then pulled a black sports bra on top. Fun fact: The more secure your girls are, the less you have to worry about while you're training. She threw on a white tee shirt that barely stayed on her upper body and left her prominently toned abdomen out in the open, adding a tiny bit of decency that her grandmother appreciated for the effort. Not that her kind were opposed to or shy about a little… freedom... save for going out where you could possibly be seen.
Once she was dressed, she threw the bag onto her back and then started on her way to the back door of the home. She brought her hands behind her head, moving her fingers through the thick black cloud of curls and bunching it into a bottleneck. Her practiced motions were fluid as her right hand slipped an elastic band off her left and with a few rolling motions had her hair pinned into a loose ponytail that barely contained her natural hair. As she finished pulling it back she caught a glimmer of something being thrown towards her from the darkness. The reflection of the moon against the screen protector was her only hint that it was coming, forcing her to quickly stop and pry it from it's airborne trajectory. As she caught her phone, she turned to see the shorter woman suddenly a step away from her. The old ones could do that.
"I know you love running, but at some point you need to stop running from this. You can't run from your family forever."
Suri smiled and leaned down, bowing her head to the older woman who returned the gesture. The two bowed for a moment as the teen rested her forehead against her Grandma Kuroyashi's, and as they did so, both of their inner beasts stirred, stretching and rolling awake from their slumber. The pure animalistic energy poured out and filled the room with power, and the two of them shared the mental image of a young pup batting its paw against a lazy, but powerful older and larger feline. The younger of the two beasts grinned and stepped back, dancing backwards on her heels towards the door.
"But running from my problems is what I do best~"
"Luck of the Pard be with you, child."
Suri didn't respond, she was already gone.
As she began running, the whites of her sclera bled to black, leaving only the yellow green irises. Her senses kicked into overdrive, taking in every scent of the forest behind the Kuroyashi complex as her feet dug into the cool mountain soil, the rough edges of stone, and the grit of wild wood. At first, the branches of the trees smacked and whipped against her skin brutally, leaving hundreds of marks and scratches before the beating of the trees faded into a whir, like wind against skin. The marks were shallow, they'd be healed before she even made it out of the forest and into the city. She ran like an uncaged predator chasing down its prey, weaving wildly through the trees, down ravines, and across riverbeds. While the air didn't have the same scent of endless groves of aspens she loved running through back in the Wasatch mountains, the cold humid forests of Japan had become a second home to her.
She loved running like this. It was one of the things that could clear her mind and put her at peace, even if everything else was going to hell in a handbasket around her. The pitter pattering of branches and leaves against her skin was soothing, a sort of droning sensation that you'd get after sitting in a massage chair for too long. She let her power flow, the energy dancing across her skin like an electric current, radiating around her as she rushed through the trees. That energy, her energy, was her inner beast, a creature that she shared her body and soul with. When she ran, they both ran. When she felt free and alive, so did the beast. Her beast wanted to hunt, wanted to take them through the trees and find a deer, maybe something smaller, just to cap off the freedom of running through the forest with the reward of warm meat beneath teeth.
Technically, she still needed breakfast and on one hand fresh meat sounded perfect, on the other hand… showing up to UA with blood stained clothes?
Yeah, bad idea.
Better idea; there was a ramen shop next to Uncle Issei's gym. She'd head there after her run to shower and change anyway. They were open this early right?
She took a turn through the trees, having run several loops around the base of the mountain behind the Kuroyashi complex, heading south towards the edge of the forest. With the edge in sight, she bolted, running as fast as she could to break through and leap in the cold morning air. The constant feel of earth and life against her skin was gone, replaced by a floating feeling and just the press of a faint humidity against her dark bronze skin. The first rays of morning light were laid out across the ocean surface, the waters lit in bands of deep reds, golden yellows, and the almost black blues of the water untouched by the first pressings of dawn.
While she was airborne, time slowed around her. Her wolven eyes filled with one of her favorite sights, second only to watching the sunrises over valleys hidden in the mountains back home. She enjoyed it for the few seconds she was in the air, falling back to the earth before her feet met pavement and began padding heavily across the cold, hard surface. There was no pain in the landing, her feet had long been calloused from the amount of time she spent barefoot throughout her life. Rocky cliffs, asphalt, concrete, rocky river beds, none of it really bothered her or irritated the soles of her feet. Besides, this was her routine; three to four miles running through the mountainside along harsh footing as fast as she and her beast could go followed by the mile and a half jog it took to get from the edge of the forest to the beach.
Suri finally let herself stop once her feet hit the sand, the soft earth all but swallowing her up to her ankles. She waded through the sand, her chest rising and falling as she took in deep breaths of ocean air, enjoying a late February soft breeze made her shiver as it touched the beads of sweat that covered her. She pulled her phone from the snug embrace of her tops and hit the small button on the bottom of the screen, bringing it to life just enough to see the time.
6 a.m.
She tempted the thought of walking out into the water, getting an ice cold soak in before going to the gym to take a shower and change into her casuals. She wanted to appreciate the beach and the ocean, especially since when she had come here the first time it had trash piled everywhere. According to Grandma it had been completely covered, used as a dump for years, and then one day, little by little, it had been cleaned up. Now, the stretch was spotless, showing off pristine sand and clear water.
She wanted to enjoy it longer than what she would be able to.
Just then a piercing, guttural scream ripped through the quiet sereneness of the ocean sunrise. The sudden noise rang through Suri's ears and forced her attention to its source. About a hundred and fifty yards away she saw a boy around her same age, fists clenched, tears pouring down his cheeks, his shirtless torso glistening in the sun from being covered in sweat.
The scream made her beast stir with a curious attention to him, not necessarily an interest to hunt - a scream filled with fear and despair made their beasts anticipate sinking fangs into prey - but more to just… watch. The call radiated nothing close to fear but instead it was about as close as he could humanly get to a roar of triumph and accomplishment. It was a declaration she had seen from her brothers and others from the pack after a fight; something that stated their dominance, their victory, the call of their beast.
That she could appreciate.
It reminded her of what was in store for her today and she couldn't help but grin. One that was wide, carried ear to ear and revealed a pair of sharp fangs. Yeah, now she had that fire burning. She clenched her right hand into a fist and smacked it hard against her left palm as she turned back towards the city, starting into a trot and once her feet met pavement her speed picked up into a full sprint. The plan was set; run to Uncle Issei's, shower, change, get some grub, catch a train and then...
"Next stop, UA," she proclaimed with an excited growl. "Let's fucking go!"