"You can make the first move,"

She wasn't being polite. Itsuka bowed to him once more, fist inside of her open palm, and smiling at him. When it came to skill, grace, and strength, she was really amazing, and somehow managed to defeat him without actually hurting him. It also felt like he learned more going against her than he did following the stances. Sweat glistened on her forehead and her breathing was heavy but measured.

After a month of training and learning the basics, Kendo-sensei had decided that it was time for him to have some experience. Unfortunately, the only opponent in his weight class - and it wasn't by a small margin - was Itsuka, which was a bunch of different problems all tied into one. First, that she was a girl, and he could barely talk to her while looking her in the eyes, second, he saw her take down the tallest man in their class.

Fortunately by the third, maybe the fourth time he had been - gently - flipped onto the mat, the whole her being a girl thing didn't really matter.

He returned her bow, his breath came in short rapid bursts. Everything about martial arts was still foreign to him, from breathing, to where his feet belonged, to even how to properly do the moves. Nothing felt right, but, it did feel better than last week.

Hopefully, that meant he was making progress.

He shifted his stance ever so slightly seeking the position that wasn't the most comfortable, or the most natural, but the one that was right, that perfect spot that Itsuka, Kendo-sensei, and all the others seemed to carry about with them. He didn't find it.

Foot forward, arm up, palm open, fingers curled, he moved forward, his back foot sliding forward as he closed the space between him and Itsuka. She had a greater reach than him, in part due to her height, but the way she controlled her body. In theory, the flow of a fight was just like following a script, just one that he couldn't read, and one that Itsuka didn't need.

If he struck her stomach she'd block it and pull him into another toss, or press him down onto the matt again ending the bout. If he attempted her chest she'd deflect the blow, pushing him out and away before pushing him down onto the ground. There was only one option, a strike to the arm.

Thud.

"Bweh." The air was forced from his lungs as he stared up at the ceiling. Either it didn't hurt or it hurt so much that he couldn't feel it. A dull soreness, the briefest ghost at the back of his foot where Itsuka must have hit him.

A hand appeared above him, and Itsuka's face blocked one of the few dull lights that gave off a natural illumination. Her orange ponytail bobbed close to her as she smiled at him. "Sorry Izuku, I didn't think you'd fall that fast when I tripped you. I think your center of gravity was off."

With his limited knowledge of martial arts, or how he even ended up on the ground in the first place, that sounded like something he'd mess up with. He took her hand and he was pulled up more by her strength than his. Muscles that he had long neglected that were already burning from the previous training sessions were now on fire.

They bowed once more, and despite his mild cause of severe exhaustion, and at least two heart attacks at touching a girl - again - he found himself smiling to the point that his cheeks hurt. "Thank you for the match."

Itsuka returned his smile. "Likewise, you'll get the hang of it if you keep it up."

"Well done Izuku," Kendo-sensei gave him a short clap, his eyes shrinking under the weight of his smile. "There is something to be said about being able to smile at your opponent, especially when he tasted defeat eight times in a row to the same foe and still stood up. Though, perhaps his perseverance is a bit too much."

His face felt hot. And not just from the usual things like being tired, or being in the spotlight, or existence. Looking at the ground cooled his face just enough.

A clap from Kendo-sensei drew his eyes back up. "Now then, take a small break to recover."

XXXX

Izuku was just as odd, skittish, and well, to be frank, weak as her first impression of him was. But he was not without surprises, he took to the concepts of moves and technique faster than most of their seniors, in many ways it was his body and inexperience that really held him back. That, and his constant habit of second-guessing his every action that made him move even slower.

But the part of him that most people didn't see was that he simply didn't quit. It was just like her father said, he had more perseverance than just about anybody. Very few students could handle losing eight times in a row and still get back up on their feet and smile at their opponent ready for more. She doubted even her father could do that.

Turning her back to the wall she slid down next to him, popping open her water bottle and taking a good long sip. He nearly jumped away from her, right, she needed to remember that he was a bit like a cat and she needed to approach him slowly. Or wait for him to get used to her. "You know, I think you really impressed my fa- our sensei."

"I did?" He half stuttered looking to her for just a split second before staring at his water bottle. "But you beat me every time, and that last time was so fast."

"I think he was testing you, he wanted to see if you'd give up. But, you didn't, so he had to give up instead. I've seen him do it before as some kind of a test, most people get fed up around four losses in a row before they're done." She punctuated the sentence by taking another sip of her water. "And when I was going up against you it felt like you were studying me and trying to find a weakness, you never did the same thing twice."

"Thanks," he said to his water bottle.

"I mean it, did you watch a lot of fight videos or something? Maybe some action anime?"

"Just, videos about heroes and stuff," he nodded to where her father was talking to a few other students. "It's how I knew about Kendo-sensei, well not about, but his quirk and stuff."

"You seemed pretty excited about my quirk too, do you study them or something?" She knew of weirder hobbies, some people let their quirks dictate their personality. Probably because of the nicknames associated with them, if only she could get them to stop calling her man-hands.

Izuku winced looking at her again for that half second, a frown appearing on his face. "I find quirks interesting, mostly those used by heroes and I umm, try to figure what they can do and other things."

"Really? That's a cool hobby, do you have notes?" His face went red. He had notes. "If you have some on my dad you should let me see them, oh, what about other pro heroes, like All Might or Ryukyu, she's still pretty new but I think she's going to make it into the top ten this year."

"Yes!" Izuku turned to look at her eyes wide and a smile on his face. "She's been doing great since she started her own agency and with the combination of her quirk Dragoon and her charity work she's quickly becoming a favorite, last week she stopped the hijacking of an armored car by picking it up and flying it to a police station."

"That was so cool!" she half squealed, the event took place while she was in class but she managed to watch the video during lunch. "She and Mirko are my favorites, and part of the reason why I want to become a Pro-hero."

The other being her parents.

"All Might is my favorite," Izuku beamed. "I want to be able to save people with a smile on my face like he does."

"Well, to do that you're going to have to keep training hard, right?" She bumped her water bottle against his, an incredibly lame and awkward toast to nothing. Maybe he was planning on becoming a police officer, or a firefighter. Or something like a paramedic.

"Yea." He stared at his water bottle again staring at it intently as his hand shook slightly. "That's why I want to go to U.A."

U.A. was the school she wanted to go to. It was the school that everybody that wanted to be a hero wanted to go to. It was the top school for those that wanted to use their quirks or be a part of the hero world. "To be a hero?"

He nodded, lip bitten into silence.

"But," She should say this. It was the obvious truth. One that he knew all too well, one that he had to live with every single day of his life. "You don't have a quirk."

To late.

Izuku nodded again, thumbing at the cap of his water bottle. "Yea, I know."

A clap echoed through the building, break time was over. She hopped to her feet, and he stood up slowly, looking more defeated now than he had when she put him on the ground eight times in a row.

"Izuku, I'm sorry," she said as he stood next to her. "I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine," he didn't smile when he said that, instead he just rubbed the back of his head, looking away from her once more. "It's just the truth."

She could apologize to him better after class. Once she figured out how to cheer him up.

XXXX

"Izuku," Kendo-sensei called to him when training was over, many of the senior students were already on their way out the door, dressed in whatever clothes they came in with. But his sensei stood in front of the mirrors gesturing towards a lone pair of mats that had been placed there. "Have a seat, I'd like to speak to you for a moment."

Every muscle in his body was sore again and his stomach was already grumbling with hunger, he might have to stop and get something on his way home this time. Things were only made worse by the feeling in his stomach that this was not going to be a good conversation.

"Did I do something wrong sensei?" He kneeled down on the cushion, placing his hands over his knees. He sat like this a few times with his grandpa, but this was the first time where it actually scared him.

"Oh, no, quite the opposite," Kendo-sensei sat opposite him, back completely straight with the kind of posture that he'd only seen in old movies with Samurai or Yakuza. His sensei's smile was wide, pulling his eyes so tight that the blue of his iris was little but a spark. "You have been in my class for about a month now, and I just want to know your thoughts."

"My thoughts?" What were his thoughts? Did he like the class? He liked Sensei and Itsuka, and he wanted to keep going. But, there was so much he didn't understand, it felt like he was moving slower, watching the other's spar they were so fast, so certain of themselves.

"I mean in regards to you." Kendo-sensei made a simple gesture with his wrinkled and calloused hand that compared to his smooth under worked hands were like the bark of a tree. "Are you enjoying yourself? I didn't push you too hard today. Did I?"

That was a good question. He opened his mouth before he had his answer, and closed it soon after. "I like it an all, but, its just I." He paused grabbing his white pant legs and staring at the ground between them. He knew what was bothering him. But saying it was different.

"You don't have to be afraid Izuku, you'd be doing both of us a disservice."

"It doesn't feel like I'm making progress." He kept his head down and to the side. "I know that it takes time and that I've only been doing it for a month, but it feels like I'm so far behind, that no matter what I do, I won't catch up."

Kendo-sensei hummed into a small chuckle. "That is because you are still a beginner Izuku, everybody begins somewhere. You can't expect to catch up in mere weeks."

"I don't," he muttered. "I just-"

"Give it time Izuku, but hold onto that feeling and try to find a way for it to motivate you." Kendo-sensei placed a hand to his mustache brushing the black and white hairs in thought. "Ahh, I know, you're a fan of All Might, correct?"

How did he know? Did he see his All Might theme underwear? He didn't wear those to school anymore? Was it the key-chain? Everybody had that key-chain! "Yes."

"Don't look so shocked, your mother told me." he reached behind his cushion, pulling out a thin leather book, that was dated for nearly forty years ago. Some kind of yearbook maybe? "That's why I dug this out. Now, where was that page, a-ha. Here we are." He stopped near the middle turning it around so that he could see it.

It was a class photo, one of U.A. with the same Blue and White gym uniforms they still wore today. There were numerous people in and he recognized none of them. "This is Class 1-A from when I was in my final year at U.A. Does anybody stand out among these future pro heroes?"

He shook his head scanning for anybody, he brought up All Might, but none of these people looked like him. And this would be before All Might went to America, and photos before his return were rare. He'd only seen a few of him in America on the web. None from his time in U.A.

"No, I don't," He admitted. Maybe Kendo-sensei turned to the wrong page.

His sensei moved his finger without looking at the page towards a boy with long blond hair and blue eyes. He was smiling at the camera as best he could, a bandage was wrapped around his head and his right arm was even in a sling. "This," Kendo-sensei said, voice filled with pride and nostalgia. "This is Toshinori Yagi"

"That's All Might?" He grabbed the book, shoving his face into it and staring right at the young man. Yes, now that he was told it was obvious, the blue eyes, the hair color, even the stance were all very All Might, with the sole exception being his injuries. All Might was all but invincible, nothing could hurt him.

"Shocking I know." Kendo-sensei placed both hands on his knees, a smile taking over his face once more. "But, All Might wasn't always all mighty. Despite his great strength, he had absolutely no coordination and his fighting instincts were far below average, even going so far as to not even make it to the first round of the Sports Festival. I believe he scored so low on both practical exams that he was nearly kicked out of U.A."

"No way," This was first-hand Rare-Might facts! One that nobody would ever believe. Was he shaking? He might be shaking. He was shaking.

"My point is Izuku, even somebody like All Might had to start from somewhere." Kendo-sensei tapped the yearbook. Drawing his attention upwards. "You have the discipline Izuku, all you need is to find the motivation for that to matter." He rose to his feet smiling. "You can borrow that if it interests you so much, your mother did say you were All Might biggest fan after all."

"I'll be sure to give it back as soon as possible Sensei!" He stood, nearly slipping as the cushion moved under his feet. The fan boards were going to freak out about this! He needed to get home and scan this as soon as possible! "Thank you Sensei!"

He sprinted towards the door, he had a spare set of school clothes he could wear, but first things first he needed to take care of this! Wait, what if there was more than one All Might picture in here? He might as well have a national treasure on his hands!

"Woah," he nearly ran into Itsuka, as he hurried to put his shoes on. "Everything okay Izuku?"

"Yea," He said, sparing her a glance, she was out of her usual training uniform, instead she was wearing a simple T-shirt with shorts. He plopped one shoe on and smiled at her, getting the other one half on as he made his way towards the door. "I just need to get home as soon as possible! Nothing bad, I'll see you tomorrow for more practice!"

He was out the door and sprinting down the staircase.

"Hey!" he heard her call from behind him. "Wait! We don't meet up tomorrow!"

XXXX

Damn it. There went her chance to apologize, and waiting to do so will just make things awkward, chasing after him would just be weird, but he didn't seem to upset, if anything he looked really excited, so maybe he forgot about it? She groaned scratching the sides of her head and pulling at her ponytail.

If she didn't apologize to him it was going to eat her alive until she did.

Why did she have to speak her mind?

She let out a sigh that turned into a raspberry. She'd just have to wait.

Her father came in from behind her, placing a pair of cushions back into their storage place.

"What did you tell Izuku?" She asked, spinning on her heel and shouldering her book bag if she did have homework she'd leave it down here, but school was demanding more and more of her time. "He seemed excited."

"Motivation is an important tool of a sensei." Her father hummed locking the entrance. He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulder, pushing her towards the Mirror. "Motivating you is simple, you simply hate losing so you'll try harder and harder until you win."

"Well, yea, who-

"In that way, you are so much like your mother. And you look more like her with every passing day," Her father said freezing the words in her mouth, he rubbed her shoulders, his smile firm, but it did not hide the sadness in her father's eyes. "I'm certain that she would have been proud of the woman you are growing into. I know I am."

"That's not fair," She ignored the water droplet that had somehow appeared out of her eye and turned to smack her father in his chest.

Her father scuffed, holding his chest like he had suffered a severe wound. "What? Saying that I'm proud of you? It's your own fault for being such a good daughter."

"No! Using mom like that to motivate me!" She was already giving it her all.

He smiled a soft smile that let his blue eyes still shine through. "I simply reminded you, nothing more, nothing less." He turned towards the back door and towards the staircase that led up to their home. "Now, let's get dinner started, I'm feeling a teriyaki bowl."

AN: So close to 300 followers in a week, that's, yea, that's pretty great. I'm so happy so many people have enjoyed this fic and I hope that you continue to do so as I move forward with it.

I hope I'm getting Itsuka's personality down right, but she's pretty fun to write as is. And I hope you don't mind how much I'm including her Father( which is an OC) in this fic, it feels important for the story and her character arc.

Anyways, please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think.