Chapter 10

Hotaru's P.o.V

I was fully healed and back at UA. Kiyo had told me Eijirou had come to check up on me and that I missed basically everything from the Sports Festival. That and the fact that one of my horns broke had me in a depressed mood. What made me feel worse was that I currently couldn't get any ideas for my hero name. I put my board down on my desk and ruffled up my hair.

"I'm getting a headache," I sat my head down against the tabletop.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm sure you'll come up with a name soon," Eijirou encouraged from next to me. I sighed.

"I hope so," I grumbled. I rested my chin in my hand and glanced over at Katsuki, who had already presented his new hero name. There were two people who had to go before I could present my idea. I haven't thought this hard all school year.

'How about Hellflame?' Kiyo suggested.

"Too aggressive," I muttered.

'Blue?'

"No," I exhaled disappointedly.

'You have got to give me some sort of leverage here...'

"Oi, Lizard Girl, you got a problem?" I had been staring at Katsuki this whole time and now the loud blonde was taking notice.

"Wait..." I mumbled, a lightbulb flickering in my head. I quickly began writing on my board. Luckily, Eijirou had just finished presenting and now it was my turn. I walked up to the front of the room and covered my board for a second while Midnight got the class' attention.

"Go ahead," the pro gave me a warm smile. I nodded then proceeded to flip over my board. Eijirou stared at me with a questioning look. Katsuki, who looked confused at first, grinned proudly.

"Hell yeah!" he put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. I smirked, hiding behind my hair a bit.

"Are you sure about this?" Ochaco asked.

"It's the only thing I've got that doesn't sound like I'm about to burn you to a crisp," I shrugged.

"But that's exactly what you do..." a bead of sweat formed on Eijirou's forehead. I laughed sheepishly.

"It's a little on the nose, but...Lizard Girl it is," Midnight nodded. I thanked her before returning to my desk.

"Bakugou's rubbing off on you way too much," Eijirou pointed out with a slightly concerned smile.

"It's not that bad," I shrugged. Kaminari, who sat in front of me, turned around in his seat.

"Are you kidding? If you become like Bakugou, this class will never get quiet! Plus, I'm not sure he needs an ego boost," he said. I looked past him and towards the blonde who was glaring at Kaminari.

"I'm pretty sure his ego is about to come over here and kick your ass," I giggled. Kaminari paled as he realized Katsuki had heard him. He turned back around as we went back to watching the rest of the class present their hero names.

Afterwards, Aizawa explained that some of us had been chosen by pro heroes for internships. When I found out I was one of them, I nearly had a heart attack. My classmates and I were given two weeks to pick an agency for our internships. The pro's who watched the sports festival scouted all the students that participated. I didn't have as many drafts as the others, but I still had a few and it was super cool.

Once our class was dismissed and we were allowed to go home, I thought over the heroes who had drafted me. As I looked through the offers, one, in particular, stood out. The hero named Edgeshot. From what I had seen and heard, he was a calm and collected hero. That's exactly what I need.

A Couple of Weeks Later...

I had accepted the draft I got from Edgeshot's agency. I went to the location I was given and was greeted by the number five hero himself. I was so nervous that I was starting to shake.

"U-Um...Hi," I stuttered, mentally scolded myself for being so awkward. Thanks to being around Katsuki, I was just starting to break out of that habit.

'If only he were here...' I thought with an internal sigh.

"Don't be so nervous. I've seen what you can do from your fight at the Sports Festival and there is no way you can let me down," Edgeshot said with a surprisingly kind tone. I widened my eyes at the fact that he knew exactly what I was thinking. I was told Edgeshot's intelligence is nothing to poke fun of but at that moment, I was stunned into silence.

"R-Right," I nodded, remembering where I was.

"Thank you for choosing me, Mister Edgeshot," I bent at the waist.

'Lord, Hotaru, why don't you offer to shine his shoes?' Kiyo scoffed. I intentionally ignored her.

"I'm Kamihara Shinya but you can call me whatever you would like. Don't worry about being so formal," Edgeshot's eyes narrowed in a way that told me he was smiling. I thought for a moment before settling on Mister Kamihara. I sighed, relaxing a bit.

"Anzai Hotaru. As you can probably tell, I'm not good at social cues," I laughed nervously.

"I see that," Mister Kamihara chuckled. "Now, right to business."

I narrowed my eyes, "Yes, Sir." We moved to a different room where I sat on a couch across from the hero's chair. I enjoyed the tea that he had apparently prepared beforehand. When Mister Kamihara began to speak, I sat down the cup and listened very closely.

"Now, I want you to tell me how you learned about your quirk. When did it first appear and how did you deal with it?" he asked seriously. I nodded before thinking back. He was the first to hear this story...No one outside my family knows it...

I took a deep breath, "I was four at the time..."

Eleven Years Ago...

Third P.o.V

(Warning: It is a bit graphic.)

"Miss Anzai? Where is the father?" a man in a golden cloak asked.

"He will take no further action in the binding of the spirit," a lady with brown hair and blue eyes asked. She was, in fact, a younger Anzai Satomi. She held her rosary tightly in one hand and a vile of blood in the other. Her expression was stoic and terrified at the same time.

"As long as we have the blood, he is no longer needed," the monk turned around and began walking. The lady nodded as she was led to a large room. Inside was a cross pinned to a wall, a priest, and a child lying on a table. She simply stared at the toddler with a blank, yet sombre, expression.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Satomi? There's no determined answer on if she'll survive. Even if she does, she might not live long. She will be denied access into the Holy Land and that is no fate for any child to bear," the Priest's worried eyes scanned the woman's face. Satomi was the priest's daughter and mother of the young child which was named Hotaru.

"If not her then it would be you...I can't take that heartbreak. Not after just losing mom to this beast," Satomi said with a spiteful tone.

"So you'd rather use your four-year-old? I can't encourage this when I've been trained for this my whole life," the Priest said.

"I'm not asking you to...This is my first child and I am still young. I can have others. Besides, you've never tried to seal the spirit in a child this young. She is new and knows no fear, which I believe is why the past sealings haven't worked. She might hold on longer than any other participants of the sealing," Satomi said. She looked to her child, who simply looked around the room. The Priest took a deep breath.

"Very well...Hand over the father's blood," he said. Satomi gave her father the blood of the child's father. She then used a knife brought over by another monk and drew her own blood. The Priest mixed the blood of both parents while chanting some words in an ancient language and drawing a mark on the baby's stomach. A triquetra, or Celtic knot, was made.

The toddler was calm and silent as the seal's effects began to take hold. It suddenly burned its way into the child's flesh and she began to cry. The seal inched its way up to the baby's face, burn marks trailing behind it. It stopped right beneath her eye where it seemed to stop burning. The cries of the babe died down.

"What is it doing?" Satomi asked as her daughter's eye turned dark. The Priest was silent.

"It's moved...It's only done that once before. Back when my grandmother had the Hostess quirk," he said. The seal was now on Hotaru's eye. The iris seemed to burst before reforming as the same symbol that was drawn on the babe's abdomen. Her eyes turned scarlet and her left pupil was now a slit. She had also sprouted small lavender-coloured horns and a tail.

Suddenly, the shadow of the baby made by the candles in the room grew until it formed a large snake-like silhouette that stood out against the temple's walls. Its glowing, red, eyes burned into the souls of Satomi and the Priest when they looked at it.

"Trying to lock me up again, Old Man?" a beautifully feminine voice asked.

"Lady Kiyo, you have caused nothing but trouble and death for this family...I will not tolerate it," the Priest's voice cracked a little.

"SO YOU TRAP ME INSIDE AN INFANT?!" the shadow roared. The flames of the candles in the room burst to life then died down.

"Men," the spirit spat before sighing and closing her eyes.

"Let's see how long this one lasts. Just because you give me a child to deal with does not mean I will be merciful," Kiyo hissed before returning to the toddler who began to stir in her sleep.

"Is it done?" Satomi asked, taking deep, shaky, breaths. Her father hesitantly nodded.

"Yes...Lady Kiyo is now permanently sealed inside your child."

...

Kamihara gave Hotaru a sympathetic look., "It sounds like your quirk was more forced than discovered." Hotaru shrugged.

"I guess so," she mumbled, having never really thought about it that way. Kamihara seemed to study her facial expression a little more before standing up and giving her his evaluation.

"From what I've seen, I can say that you should focus more on your mental state while using your quirk," he informed her. Hotaru raised an eyebrow.

"You have to sacrifice blood in order to use the spirit's power, am I correct?" Kamihara asked.

"Yeah...I-I mean yes!" Hotaru nodded nervously, "The more blood I use, the more fire I can use." Kamihara shook his head.

"Most of the time, it's a matter of where your head is at. Let's try something," he left the room for a bit. When he came back, he held two candles in his hands. As he sat down, he placed the candles in front of Hotaru.

"Here. Try to light one candle at a time with a smaller, more focused, stream of fire," he instructed. Hotaru narrowed her eyes before drawing blood from her hand and attempting to light one candle at a time.

She ended up destroying the whole table...

Kamihara sighed, causing Hotaru's nerves to grow. She felt her sweat roll off her brow as she clapped her hands together and bowed profusely.

"S-Sorry!" she panicked. Kamihara shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Concentrate on the task you are trying to master. Start small then we'll work our way up. I'll be back to check on you in an hour," he said with a warm tone. Hotaru stared at him as he left. The thought of letting him down scared the crap out of her, so she glared at the candles with a newfound determination.

"You won't get the best of me," she hissed before attempting to light the candles. It would be a long day...

-.-

Hey, you guys! If you noticed, I wrote in a burn mark on Hotaru's body in the eighth chapter, I think. No, it was not from Satomi, but from Hotaru's quirk reacting to the seal. Just wanted to clear that up.

Special Thanks To...

Uzumaki of authority