Chapter 8

Third P.o.V

It was time for the UA Sports Festival. Hotaru had been training for weeks and managed to strengthen her relationship with Kiyo while doing so. After her mom's last freak out, she was focused on her training more than healing her burn. It still hurt from time to time but she wasn't going to let it stop her, now. All the anticipation had her nervous, yet excited.

She had participated in the Obstacle Course and the Cavalry Battle, giving her a decent ranking. She was having a nice lunch when she was dragged away and put into a cheer uniform.

'This is so demeaning...' Kiyo said with a disgusted tone.

"Um...Why are we doing this again?" Hotaru hid behind Uraraka as she cheered. The brunette simply gave her a nervous laugh before pointing to Yaoyorozu. Hotaru raised an eyebrow.

"You tricked us!" the raven-haired girl shouted at Mineta and Kaminari. Hotaru wasn't mad at the fact she and the others had been lied to, but the fact that the outfit was so revealing.

It had an orange, skirt, pom-pom's, and a shirt that showed her midriff. She attempted to use her pom-poms as a sort of cover. She hoped to just sit on the sidelines while going unnoticed.

"Lizard Girl?"

"Shit..." Hotaru mumbled as she realized a pair of eyes had been watching her. Many eyes, actually, as the boys took notice of the girls' change in wardrobe.

'This was a poorly thought out plan,' Kiyo sighed as Hotaru's sweat fell.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" Bakugou asked, looking the female up and down. He was followed by Kirishima, who said nothing. His pink cheeks and eyes that were glued to the ground spoke for themselves. Hotaru forced an awkward smile.

"I got roped into this because the other girls were tricked by Mineta and Kaminari," she explained nervously. Bakugou furrowed his eyebrows.

"Those fucking idiots..." he growled, attempting to approach to Kaminari. He was stopped by Hotaru grabbing his wrist. She gave him a nervous look.

"I-It's fine," she muttered just loud enough for him to hear. Bakugou glared at her with a look of confusion and anger.

"It's not," he spat. The purple-haired girl sighed, letting go of his wrist.

"I mean...It's not that bad? I need a little more confidence and this...this might help," she sheepishly looked down and motioned at her outfit. Bakugou tsked.

"At least put a jacket on or something," he said before walking away. Hotaru's eyes watched him until he disappeared. A light blush made its way onto her face.

'You heard him. Go put something decent on,' Kiyo spat, snapping Hotaru out of her trance. The plum-haired girl nodded.

"I'll be right back," she told Uraraka, who nodded, then made her way to where she had changed. She grabbed the jacket belonging to her UA tracksuit and slipped it on over the cheer outfit. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of having friends that worry about her.

Once she got back outside, she sat on a bench behind the others, who apparently had embraced the chance to be cheerleaders.

"Aren't you gonna join in, Anzai?" Asui asked. Hotaru shook her head.

"It took everything in me to just put this on," she forced out a laugh. Asui nodded understandingly before turning around. Soon, the recreational games began. Hotaru found herself silently rooting for her classmates.

Later...

After the recreational games, the students gathered before Midnight. They were told the next part of the Sports Festival would be one-on-one battles determined by a bracket system. When a screen came up, showing the first set of battles, Hotaru didn't expect to find her name among one of the first few fights.

'Way to go,' Kiyo's smug voice said. Hotaru looked to who she would be fighting and instantly felt her throat dry up.

"T-Todoroki...?" her eyes went wide. She paled as she looked at the boy with two-toned hair. He narrowed his eyes and returned the stare. Hotaru snapped her head forward. He was out of her league! She swallowed the lump in her throat.

'Let's do this,' Kiyo sounded way too excited. Her host felt her sweat fall.

"I'm going to die..."

Hotaru's P.O.V

Great.

Just great.

The best thing to happen to me all day and it's fight Todoroki?! Lady Luck is screwing with me, big time. I watched the first one-on-one fight begin. It was between Midoriya and a boy named Shinso. I hoped it would last for a long while because I definitely needed time to prepare myself mentally and physically.

"Are you nervous? You have to go up against Todoroki..." Uraraka asked after getting my attention by tapping my shoulder.

"Terrified," I deadpanned, unaware of the heterochromatic eyes staring at me. I managed to push the battle with Todoroki to the back of my mind as I watched Midoriya's fight. That kid had spunk. Even Kiyo agreed he was determined. I thought back to the USJ attack and remembered how much he wanted to help All Might. He risked his life for someone else.

I sighed as the fight came to a conclusion. I felt my throat constrict when I snuck a glance in Todoroki's direction, only to find that he was already gone. It was time...

Later...

I stood in the entrance to the fighting arena. After taking a few deep breaths and listening to Kiyo's encouraging words, I was ready. When my name was called, I sighed and let whipped the brow of sweat off my eyebrow.

"Here we go..." I mumbled under my breath as I walked out. Todoroki met me on the cement slab we would be fighting on. Present Mic explained that one of us could win by knocking out our opponent, making them go out of bounds, or by the surrender method. After the explanation of the rules, Mic fired up the crowd with a loud shout, signalling that the fight had begun.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. The only thing I knew about Todoroki was his name and he had some sort of half and half quirk involving ice. However, looking at him now, I could tell he was holding something in that he wanted out. I had seen it in Katsuki many times before. It was anger.

'Power up,' Kiyo said in a smug tone. The light tingling that came from the seal on my eye told me that she was passionate about this fight...I sighed, digging my fangs into my hand and drawing out blood. As usual, my tail and horns lit on fire.

"Let's get this over with..." I grumbled. Within seconds, the ground beneath me began to freeze over. I used my tail to propel myself upwards before the ice could reach me. While in the air, I shot blue flames from my hands. I came down fast, fist reared and ready to hit the dual-haired boy. Of course, he defended himself. A wall of ice went up and I barely had enough time to adjust myself so that my feet would hit the wall and I could bounce off. I flipped once, landing on the ground and slipping a bit on the ice.

"This dude seriously has some pent up aggression," I huffed.

'Back at square one...' Kiyo sighed. She was right. I was back in my original spot and Todoroki had yet to move. After a few seconds, I made another plan.

"Okay...Let's try something else," I mumbled. Puffing up my chest, I shot a blue-flamed breath attack towards my opponent. The fire hit the ice wall he had just made, causing a cloud of steam to form. I narrowed my eyes, waiting for the steam to clear when suddenly...

"Ack!" I yelped as something came in contact with my back. I flew forwards, rolling across the floor of ice.

'Pay attention!' Kiyo shouted. I winced as I stood up. Why was everything still spinning...?

Third P.o.V

Bakugou clenched his jaw as he watched Todoroki kick Hotaru in the back. For reasons unknown to him, he wanted to kick the boy back.

"Damn it..." he spat through his grit teeth. He felt himself calm down a bit as Hotaru stood up. He was perfectly fine with putting himself through pain to gain experience from a fight, but not his friends.

"I know it's a fight and we're being scouted...But he should have given her some slack. It's not manly to hit a girl," Kirishima said from next to Bakugou, a concerned look on his face.

"I should have expected that..." Hotaru coughed before shooting out of the smoke. She lunged towards Todoroki, busting down the many ice walls he would put in her path. Bakugou grinned as he witnessed Hotaru's determination in action. She managed to get behind the half-n-half boy. She swept his feet out from under him but used his ice to shoot himself into the air so he could dodge. Hotaru followed, once again trying-and failing-to hit her opponent with a blue-flamed attack. They both landed back on the ground, but only Hotaru was breathing heavily. Todoroki furrowed his eyebrows.

"Come on, Lizard Girl..." Bakugou said under his breath. Hotaru smirked as Todoroki got ready to charge at her.

"I know I'm not on your level..." Todoroki hesitated, narrowing his eyes. Bakugou raised an eyebrow as the purple-haired girl spoke.

'What are you doing?!' Kyo spat.

"And I may not be as strong as you...but I have ambitions like every other person here," Hotaru took a few deep breaths.

'Quit talking and start fighting!' Kyo shouted, causing the seal to react. Hotaru sharply inhaled through her clenched teeth as she put her hand up to her eye. She briefly moved her bangs, unconsciously revealing her triquetra pupil to those who paid close enough attention. Todoroki must have caught it because he raised an eyebrow in interest.

"I won't go down easily. I have people to prove wrong," there was a moment of silence. For once, everyone wanted to hear what Hotaru wanted to say. She bit into her arm this time, drawing out a lot more blood.

"If I get knocked out, an even stronger force will take over my body. I can't control her since I'll be unconscious...but like hell is she going simply walk away from a fight," she hissed, eyes practically glowing from the burning passion inside of them. Bakugou, having been the only one she told about her quirk, grinned. He finally got to see it in action.

"I can practically smell the hatred that you're radiating. I know it's none of my business, so I won't ask, but I just want to say that a fight fueled by rage isn't a fight at all," Hotaru's words seemed to strike Todoroki harder than any punch she had thrown.

"So I ask that when you meet Kiyo, you do not fight her with that same anger you're fighting me with. She has the right to hold a grudge against humanity and has been doing so for over six hundred years," she cracked her knuckles.

'You know, this might be really confusing to most people,' Kiyo deadpanned. Hotaru narrowed her eyes as a breeze picked up, causing her hair to blow around her face. Her tail patiently swished behind her.

"I'm not gonna let your terrifyingly strong power change anything," she said, now free of all fear. Bakugou wore a look of pride on his face. One wouldn't go as far as to say her words touched him, but they sure as hell made him think she's one badass chick.

"Kick his ass, Lizard Girl."