NeonHorizon: Crude language warning? Kugutsu swears a lot in this one. It's a little shorter than usual, but I didn't want to end up with a bunch of filler because that wouldn't be interesting for you to read. Next chapter will be extra special because it's a tenth. Every ten chapters, I like to do something a little special so we'll see what chapter 30 brings ^_^
Kugutsu was unable to talk and she was struggling just to keep breathing. Her mouth twisted into a snarl, baring teeth, as she tried to quickly form a plan to free herself. There was no way she could let herself die. Not because she had any goal that she had to achieve. She wanted to stay alive because death would mean letting Shigaraki down. It would make her a failure.
Dabi was unfazed by the other villain's thrashing and pressed his palm tighter against her throat. The cruel smirk on his scarred, patchy face stretched into a grin that mirrored her madness. "What's wrong, little kitty? You were looking for me, right? Well here I am. You should be glad. I'm doing you a favor." He brought his other hand closer to the side of her face, blue flames glowing brighter.
She gritted her teeth and pushed at his abdomen with the bottom of her boot, using as much strength as she could manage. Let go of me, you creepy fucking ragdoll! I can't die like this! Shigaraki…is going to be pissed off if I die! She slammed her boot against him again and again as she tried to force him away from her. Unfortunately, Kugutsu was having more difficulty breathing and her strength began to fail her.
The female villain's vision started to blur with tears of panic as Dabi's flames got closer. The heat made her skin feel like it was burning without him even touching her. She heard Spinner yelling as he tried to make Dabi back off. Growling at the thought of someone having to save her, Kugutsu used the last of her air to give a strangled shout and swung her arm.
The blade of shadow that had sheathed her arm was now sunk deep into Dabi's upper arm. Blood ran down quickly, dripping from his elbow and soaking his sleeve. He remained unfazed and was close to actually burning her left cheek now.
"Hey! Dabi, you said this was supposed to be a joke! This isn't funny anymore! Keep it up! It's hilarious!"
Hearing Twice seemed to snap Dabi out of his murderous intent and he let go of Kugutsu's throat. She fell to her hands and knees, gasping for air and keeping her eyes closed to block out her embarrassment. "Charred bastard! I'll kill you-!"
"You could've killed Kugutsu-chan! Fair's fair, okay? You killed her, she killed you! You're even now, right?"
"You…fucking killed me?!" She wanted to tear out his throat and present it to Shigaraki as a gift, but managed to stop herself. Instead, she just bristled and glowered up at the villain.
"You both went too far tonight! No more doubles for either of you! Maybe one or two more!"
"Twice, you're not helping! Yami, are you okay?!" Spinner, not knowing what else to do, patted her back as if that would fix everything. Poor, simple reptilian villain; doing his best to cure almost strangulation with a remedy for choking.
"I-I'm fine!" She pushed his hand away and shook her head. Ruffling her hair with both hands, she was now dealing with way more than a fresh villain should probably have to deal with. Not only had Dabi just tried to kill her, but apparently he had killed her double earlier that night.
Ugly, burning piece of trash! Creep! Asshole! Edgy ragdoll villain wannabee! Kugutsu managed to push herself to stand and leaned against the wall as she coughed. Her eyes went from Spinner to the other two. Twice was doing his best to lecture Dabi about not killing teammates and Dabi was doing his best to just ignore him. Disrespectful shit. First he ignores Shigaraki and now Jin-san? Who does he think he is?
She reached behind her and pressed a hand against her shadow. It grew and solidified, stabbing outward and smacking into Dabi's back hard enough to send him sprawling forward onto the ground. "Now we're even," she growled. "Let's go, Spinner."
It was quiet again now that they had left behind the charred freak and Twice. It made her feel sick to her stomach to think of abandoning her goal of dragging Dabi back to the bar, but she was smart enough to know when she was facing a losing situation. As rare as that was for her.
Kugutsu had failed Shigaraki, even if she was still alive. She failed to bring Dabi back and now she had to face Shigaraki with her head hung in shame. I was going to make him proud of me. Now I just look like a psycho rule-breaker like Dabi.
Shift P.O.V
Kugutsu had installed a tracking app on her phone the second that he mentioned it. He was a little annoyed by her eagerness at first, but now he was glad she was so eager to please him. Sitting at the counter in the bar, ignoring the sleepy girl villain that was pestering him to reveal where Dabi and Twice were, Shigaraki tracked Kugutsu's location.
The little red dot that symbolized Kugutsu was moving toward the bar at a steady pace. Shigaraki scratched at his neck as he heard her enter and quickly tucked his phone away. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was worried about her. He had just wanted to know where she was.
Any relief that he felt was immediately overshadowed by anger when he saw the dark handprint on her throat. She had her head down as she trudged into the bar alongside Spinner. The reptilian villain was talking to her, apparently trying to cheer her up, but she looked like a cat that had been locked out in the rain all night. He was unable to see her facial expressions since her head was down, but she was slouching enough and had her ears flattened in depression.
Shigaraki's nails dragged over his neck, tearing at the flesh little by little as he felt his pulse quicken. His chapped, scarred lips twisted into a deep scowl as he kept his gaze focused on Kugutsu's neck. On that handprint. Too large to be a woman's. Not the right shape to be Spinner's hand.
What happened to my fan? Not that he was about to decide he was worried about her. What he felt was probably more close to how it felt when a phone charger was borrowed by someone without asking and it was returned with the wire frayed. Someone damaged her, he thought as his eyes narrowed.
At his side, Toga yawned and barely covered it with a hand. "Tomura, what happened? What'd I miss?" she persisted.
Normally, Kugutsu probably would have leapt on Toga and threatened to tear her eyes out for calling him "Tomura". She would be seething just at the fact that Toga was so close to him. Whatever had happened to her, it was distracting her.
It was worse than a cat being out in the rain all night. It was like when a pet cat got outside and went missing for a week, only to return covered in wounds and limping. A damaged pet. Shigaraki got up without a word and began slowly approaching Kugutsu and Spinner.
The female villain had leaned against the wall and slid downward so she was seated in the fetal position. Her right hand was lifted so she could chew at her thumbnail. Sitting beside her, Spinner was still talking and trying to lift her spirits. He was sitting way too close though; his knee was touching hers.
It was unfortunate. It really was. Shigaraki, with his virtually nonexistent experience with relationships and romance, viewed knee touching as basically second base. His irritation grew as he chewed at his lower lip and he began pondering something cruel, something scathing, that he could say to Spinner.
"Whoa! Yami, your cheek's all red! Did you get burned?" Spinner, the poor innocent reptilian villain, made the horrible mistake of reaching over to push her hair away from her left cheek.
Kugutsu moved before Shigaraki could and slapped his hand away. She lifted her head, her lips drawn into a tight, straight line and her cat-yellow eyes narrowed into a heated glare. "Don't touch."
"Sorry. That looks bad though. Does it hurt?"
Shigaraki froze in place as Kugutsu's eyes met his. The villain's scowl deepened and he gave a beckoning nod. As she stood to obey his summon, he saw that Spinner was right. In addition to the deep bruise on her throat, the girl's left cheek was a bright, painful shade of red and looked almost like it had started to cook. Worse than a sunburn. It made Shigaraki's stomach turn.
Right as she neared him, the door opened to admit Twice and Dabi. The masked villain was going on about how Dabi should not attack teammates and how he could have killed "Giran's little sister". Dabi looked indifferent as he stalked over to the bar and seated himself. He only showed interest when he happened to look over and see Kugutsu. A smirk tugged at his two-toned mouth.
"What're you staring at, freak show?" Shigaraki glowered at him, daring him to say something. Kugutsu was at his side now. Her head was down and she was fidgeting with her sleeve's hem. This was not the psychotic, eager fan girl he was used to. She was acting like a dog with its tail between its legs.
Seeing her so timid and frightened only made him angrier. He wanted to slam a hand onto Dabi's smug face and watch it crumble away in decay. He fought that urge for the sake of the League of Villains. As annoying as Dabi was, he was a good ally. If he proved otherwise in the future, Shigaraki decided he would end him.
Without another word, he started walking toward the door and heard Kugutsu follow at a distance. Her movements were cautious and she seemed unsure of herself. Sad. Terrified. He hated it so much that he could taste bile at the back of his throat.
It was as he turned to make sure she followed him into the back that he happened to glance toward Dabi again. The half-burned freak had shrugged off his coat and Kurogiri was passing him a roll of bandage from behind the counter. There was a deep gash in his left upper arm. The blood pouring out was so thick, so dark, that it looked almost black.
Shigaraki chewed at his lip and looked to his fan girl again. There was blood all over her right forearm, but it was clearly not her own. Any normal leader would be upset. She wounded a team member, after all. Shigaraki was, thankfully, not normal. He glanced to the wound and back to Kugutsu before leading her into the darkness of the back passage.
As he walked ahead of her, he felt proud of his fan. He knew she set out to bring Dabi back and she had failed, but she had succeeded in wounding him. She had been injured so Shigaraki knew she put forth a lot of effort to try to bring Dabi back to the bar, just so she could impress him.
"…I'm sorry…" She sounded pained and her voice was barely above a whisper. "I tried and I…let you down. I'm sorry."
"Shut up." He entered his room first and gestured for her to sit on the floor. When she obeyed, he sat next to her, pressing his knee tight against hers, and produced his console. "You're staying here until I'm satisfied. Load your game."