Chapter 4 - Holidays & Semi-Exposed


For an entire week, Izuku was stuck at home, but it wasn't so bad. Inko kept her company and she kept herself busy by either going over her notes, her medical books, the medical files that were emailed to her and her friends who allowed her to pass the day quickly. The day at home felt more like an icy long weekend instead of the start of her holidays.

Whenever she talked with Ace, he gave her more fighting tips and restraining holds to practice and he promised to iron out any mistakes when the week was over. She also asked about fighting styles which ones would suit her. It took a while for him to respond but when he did, he told her that Brazillian Jiu-Jutsu, Capoeira, and Muay Thai are the fighting styles for her.

He gave her several tips and pointed her in the right direction to look at the basics of those three styles.

She thanked him repeatedly and spent a good chunk of the day looking over the styles he pointed out for her.

Capoeira is a fast and versatile martial art that is focused on being either being outnumbered or at a disadvantage. The style emphasizes using the lower body to kick, sweep, and take down opponents while the upper body is used to assist those moments.

Brazillian Jiu-Jutsu is a popular fighting style that comes from ground and pound fighting giving the smaller fighter leverage by employing body leverage.

Muay Thai is a fighting style that is known as the 'Art of Eight Limbs' due to its' heavy involvement of elbow and knee strikes.

She also bookmarked several other fighting styles that she found interesting, Dim Mak, Silat, and Krav Maga.

Dim Mak is known as pressure-point fighting, this ancient martial art style that focuses on attacking the susceptible on the opponent's body through various acupuncture points. She made a note to study the pressure points of the body to take care and make sure to avoid killing blows.

Silat is a fighting style that comes from Malaysia which is an exploiting weakness fighting style. It's a fighting style that is focused on violence and taking out the opponent as quickly as possible.

The last one was Krav Maga is a non-compassion type of style with no concern about the opponent's well being. The sole purpose of this style is to inflict as much pain as quickly as possible and to be used as a last resort.

She made to study the last three extensively before she brought them up to Ace.

When she talked with Kiddo, it was mostly about music as it distracted her from the situation about the creep that attacked her that day or military tactics she learned from her father. They liked to go back and forth talking about each other's families. Kiddo's mother was out of the picture but dearly missed as her father was overseas working. Her father was a part of the Navy and worked on a ship that re-routed back to Japan every year.

Inko was a stay at home mother, but she liked to work to keep herself busy as it was a simple task at keeping the house clean and the extra money helped. Although her father... on the hand was out of the picture but still alive. She couldn't remember his face, she knew he was tall and loved to wear suits and loafers. The relationship just didn't work out between her mother and him, so they separated but he kept in contact with her through letters and small gifts that she kept in her closet. She only hoped that he was happy wherever he was.

Either way, whenever Kiddo asked about how she was, Izuku always replied that she was fine and thanked her for thinking about her.

Talking with Lucy was simple, short, and constant. She liked to talk about her brother and grandfather who were a part of the Marines corps who were at the head of their peers. Lucy loved to talk about them and their adventures that didn't give away important information. She also loved to talk about her dreams and food from various restaurants she wanted to explore with Izuku and everyone else. Her recommendations and stories brightened her day and hoped to explore all of her recommendations soon enough.

Conversing with Harumi was a lot smoother considering that Harumi could stumble over her words and just fall silent from embarrassment which was something she was working on. They talked about each other's quirks and how they have been improving them. Along with quirks, she mostly conversed on how Izuku was feeling and wished her well over the holidays.

However, her conversations with Hitoshi could last hours and neither of them would notice due to how invested they were into their talks. For a guy who was a loner, he is one hell of a conversationalist.

It did make sense considering his quirk and if people weren't so judgemental and quick to damn him due to the supposed 'evil potential' his quirk had, he'd probably have to beat off girls with a stick.

Talking the night away with Hitoshi was surprisingly easy, they talked about a variety of different things such as support items that he could use to back up his quirk, geeking about Eraserhead and his own support weapon. Hitoshi often pondered about seeing if he could find one for himself. However, his doubts about being a hero would rear its' ugly head.

Izuku popped his doubts with ease, stating that they probably thought the same thing about Eraserhead as his quirk erases other quirks. She told him that Eraserhead would be absolutely terrifying as a villain considering he could cripple heroes easily, the shock of being momentarily quirkless would give him a lot of opportunities for knockouts or even kill shots. But he isn't, he's a hero and he's one of the best underground heroes to date.

'Do you always have to try to make me feel better?'

'It's my job as your friend to make sure you don't fall back into your shell. Besides, I have several ideas to help you, remember your quirk is powerful even if you don't think so. You just need support which is something every hero needs and there is no shame in it either.'

'Fair enough. It's getting late. Thanks for talking with me.'

'Anytime.'

Throughout the week, the two continued to chat, working through multiple ideas for his support weapon until she pondered on something that hadn't been made yet, but it could work. She searched up monofilament wires and chewed on the idea about them being embedded into a pair of gloves.

She made to design it in the notebook she planned on giving him when she finished implementing most of the ideas she had for him. After some more talking, she sent him the sketch she made of her monofilament wire gloves and the idea surrounding them. He could be like Eraserhead but in his own way.

It took several minutes for him to reply back, but she told him it was just a basic drawing of black gloves with ten wires, five on each hand to manipulate at his leisure. She asked if she could send an email for him, but he told her they would send it together and he could practice and strengthen his fingers in the meantime before they could send the email.

She grinned and sent him several links to solo cat's cradle and how to do it along with multiple video links of string games, much to his pleasure. He thanked her and she replied that she would support him and couldn't wait to see him again.

If she wasn't texting anyone, she spent her time studying the medical files sent to her via email and informing everyone at the clinic that she was fine and to be safe for the Holidays.


[December 24th]

Izuku decided to spend the day in her pajamas, Inko greeted her with a smile, "Good morning, Izuku."

"Good morning, mom. It's Christmas already."

"No kidding. I know you already have a list for Christmas and considering you have friends, do you want me to buy their gifts for you too?"

"If you could please. I'll get you the list and where to find them. The rest I will order online, I don't want to spend all day out shopping."

"Alright then."

Izuku made to gather a collection of papers that had the name and description of the gifts she had planned to buy for both her friends, teachers, and the Bakugo family, including Katsuki. Despite what he said about her, she couldn't find it within herself to not give him a gift. It was something she always has done, but she would keep him at arm's length until he apologized.

She handed them to her mom who kissed her forehead before she made to eat breakfast with her and before she left to go shopping.

Izuku made to bury herself in blankets on the couch, sipping hot chocolate and made to lose herself in a series of classical cheesy Christmas movies.


[December 25th]

Izuku woke up with a yawn, stretching out her limbs before she jumped out of bed and made her way into the living room to find her mother who greeted her with her first gift of the day, "Merry Christmas, Izuku."

She kissed her cheek, "Merry Christmas, mom."

She opened her gift and saw it was a beautiful sweater that she had her eye on along with a set of green fingerless training gloves she wanted to buy as she didn't want to borrow Ace's.

"They are wonderful, thank you, mom."

"I'm glad you enjoy them. It took me a while to find them, but your instructions made it easy."

"Good to know. Now sit down, I have to get your present. It's in my closet."

"Okay, okay," She smiled as she took a seat on the couch.

After getting her present, she came back clutching a baby blue present, presenting it to her.

"Thank you, sweetie."

She sat down next to her as she watched Inko slowly open her present to find a pair of books and a collection of bracelets with matching rings that she got on sale.

"They are wonderful, thank you so much, Izuku."

She grinned as her mother kissed and hugged her.

Soon enough her phone buzzed and it continued to throughout the day with multiple greetings and well-wishes from everyone.

Harumi - Good morning and Merry Christmas! I miss you a lot and I can't wait to give you my gift when we meet up with each other again. We'll talk later, but again Merry Christmas.

Ace - Happy Holidays! The week is almost up and you finally head out again, I can't wait to see you. The folks and several of the kids miss you already. Although I told them about the situation they told me to inform you that they will keep an eye out for any shifty people. Tell your mom Happy holidays for me.

Kiddo - Yo, merry Christmas! I can't wait to see you and I hope you and your mom have a great day. Make sure to take care of yourself and celebrate, we will celebrate like mad at Eiichi's after your week at home is over.

Lucy - Merry Christmas! I hope you are doing well along with your mom. The week is almost over and I can't wait to give you a hug, I miss you.

Hitoshi - Happy Holidays! I know you are doing fine since we just talked several hours ago, but I hope you are doing okay along with your mom. I can't wait to see you and my parents wish you happy holidays as well.

Monozaki - Happy Holidays and I hope you are holding up well at home. Take care and be safe, please.

Ray - Happy Holidays. Everything is holding up well over here, although both Kuran and Black miss your presence along with the patients. Take care and rest, you will soon be bouncing around the clinic before any of us know it. Take care and blessings to you and your mother.

Eliza - Merry Christmas! I hope you and your mom are doing okay. I can't wait to see you again!

Katsuki - Hey. Happy Holidays to you and Inko.

Auntie Mi (Mitsuki) - Merry Christmas, little Izu! I can't wait to see you, it's been too fucking long!

Uncle M (Masaru) - Merry Christmas, Izuku. I hope you have a wonderful break and make sure to take care of yourself.

She simply thanked them all and wished them happy holidays.

After several hours, she was going to take a nap before she heard a sharp knock on the door.

She slowly got up, piling a blanket over her shoulders and checked the peephole only to find a young man wearing a delivery uniform holding a present with a clipboard, making her unlock the door and open it.

"Hello?"

"Good day and Happy Holidays. This is from the usual sender."

She saw it was wrapped in purple and green wrapping paper with a fuzzy bow and nodded as she signed for it and thanked the delivery man before closing and locking the door.

It was from him, her father. He always sent her gifts directly on the date of Christmas and her birthday. She made a note to send him a letter tomorrow, thanking him for the gift as she removed the wrapping paper and opened the box. Then she pulled out a well-crafted teddy bear with a letter he wrote. His letters were always hand-written, rather well to the point that it would make experienced calligraphers go green with envy. His writing was just that perfect.

The teddy bear had a box of fancy assorted chocolates stuffed inside, making her smile as she softly thanked him. Even now, she couldn't remember his face or his smile, but wherever he was, she would wish him well on his way.

The last two days of her imposed house arrest went by quickly and that's all she wanted and she couldn't wait to go out with a grin and hug her friends and Eiichi. Although she did stay two more days inside just for her mother's benefit.


[December 30th]

Izuku woke up with a yawn as before she got dressed and made to drink another Super Gel Dero Doro drink for the medical clinic to get back into the groove of supporting everyone at the clinic.

Before she could change her hair and eye color, there was a knock on the door.

She opened it and she was immediately pulled into a tight hug by Mitsuki Bakugo who had a massive grin on her face.

"Little Izuku! It's been so long! I miss you!"

Izuku let out a bit of a groan and hugged her back, "I miss you too, Aunt Mi! How are you?"

"Just fine. Katsuki's still being a little shit and Masaru says hello."

She nodded as Mitsuki looked into the apartment, "Is Inko with you?"

"In here! Come in, come in!"

Mitsuki let herself in, clutching Izuku to her chest, all the while before she released her.

"Inko!" She squealed

Inko smiled and hugged her before leading her to a table as she fixed her a cup of tea.

"How are you? I wanted to pop by as it has been a while and I wanted to check on you both."

Inko placed the cup before her as Mitsuki took a sip, "We are both fine and it has been an interesting year."

"Oh really?"

"Yep. Izuku, do you want to show her?"

"Show me? Show me what?"

Izuku flushed and activated her quirk, making her hands glow green, "I activated my quirk."

The ashy blonde squealed in delight before she stood up to wrap Izuku in a crushing hug that was tighter than the last one.

"Oh, I can't believe it. It must have been quite a shock. When did you get it?"

"It was several months ago, I was walking back home when I smelled something off. I found a person who collapsed and made to help him, I managed to flag down a taxi to take him to the hospital. Apparently, my quirk healed him as he was really injured, apparently have a lot of facial scars and tissue damage. I probably healed him subconsciously at that moment. I guess I'm just a rare case of a late bloomer."

"Either way that's amazing. But how come Katsuki didn't tell me or Masaru about this?"

"Ah...I didn't tell him yet. I wanted it to be a surprise as I wanted to get a grip on it first."

She nodded, "Fair point. But I bet his head will explode. That will be amazing."

She smiled, "Maybe, but can you please keep it a secret until then?"

"Sure, sure."

The conversation between the three lasted a good hour and a half before she left as she wished both Inko and Izuku a good day.

After she left, Izuku changed her hair and eye color before leaving for the clinic after kissing her mother on the cheek. After she finished and was walked back by Eliza who hugged Inko and wished her Happy Holidays, Izuku got changed into more comfortable clothes.

Soon enough, she was sucked into another conversation with Hitoshi as they spoke about their favorite heroes and she showed him the picture she made of Harumi and how she may enjoy it to which he agreed.

The two then got to talking about Hitoshi about what his costume should be. They exchanged ideas as he wanted to be modeled after his favorite hero, Eraserhead, not that she minded, but she wanted something that made him unique as well. They already got the support weapon and how he had been practicing like mad to strengthen his fingers which she hoped to see soon enough.

After that, she began to draw, taking Eraserhead's military pants with a tight, blade, and a bulletproof sleeveless shirt with an oversized neck collar, dark arm protectors and his gloves with wires. She wondered what else could she add to it, but he said it was perfect for now. They would text each other for more ideas.

He helped her with her own hero costume, although he was big on dark colors, he thought her wearing dark long protective stockings that went up to her thighs with military-grade boots would look good on her.

She decided to say a black and emerald green jumpsuit with matching arm supports with a medical sign on her left bicep and a belt of pockets that she can store her hearts and medical supplies in. Then her face, as she would be very noticeable. He didn't want her to change her look as she looked fine enough with just her usual colors and they decided on a facemask with a pair of diamonds to cover her freckles.

After that, they signed off, although Hitoshi's mother was reading the messages and smiled, "So you don't want her to change her face, huh?"

He flushed as his mother hugged as began teasing him, although he accepted it. He knew she wouldn't let it go for a while, his father while being laid back was just as bad as his mother when it came to teasing him.


[Bakugo Household]

Mitsuki came home with a grin, 'I can't believe she has a quirk, well, I guess there must be some late bloomers, not everyone can get there's between four and five. But I'm happy for her. The girl deserves it along with her friends.'

When she entered her home, her husband greeted her, "How was your day, dear?"

She jumped on the couch beside him and snuggled up to him, "I spent the day with Inko and Izuku."

"Oh, that's nice. How are they?"

"Inko is fine and happy and Izuku is still a sweet girl and we talked about how her year was. She even got a bunch of new friends."

"Really?"

She nodded, "Yep. They are all very nice and she met them just by chance. They have been nothing but good to her."

"Well, it's good to know that she is doing well, Katsuki hasn't talked about her in years."

She nodded, "I wonder why, but you should know that she's actually volunteering at a medical clinic and does a lot of help for them."

"Good for her, she's always a smart girl. I guess she wants to be a doctor or something?"

"I wouldn't say she gave up her dream of being a hero just yet. She just decided to go about it in a different way."

"Well, I wish her nothing but the best."

As the pair continued to talk, Katsuki was listening from the shadows about how his parents continued to talk about Izuku and how she was doing without him.

He didn't like it, he didn't like how he felt about the entire situation considering it made him feel like a bitter bitch about the whole thing. He knew despite not wanting to admit it that Izuku wouldn't want to stay in his shadow forever. Especially when she had people who wouldn't ignore her or treat her as an eyesore. They would care for her, something he hadn't done since they were little.


[December 31st]

In a lavish mansion that resided in the distance, surrounded by nature, the mansion was bright with multi-colored lights tinting the windows. Inside the mansion was every luxury a person could get and multiple other items. Underneath the mansion, however, was a basement that was made into a torture chamber.

Nui was stripped naked and chained in the middle of the room with hooks embedded into his biceps and forearms in an awkward way that caused more pain, while the rest of his body was exposed. His eyepatch was removed, showing a stitched up eye socket, he was covered in violent bruises, whip marks, cuts, and burns.

*Crack!* *Crack!*

The blond let out a violent giggle as he felt the blood wept from his wounds before a sigh rang out, "Oh Nui, what am I going to do with you?"

He gave a grin as he watched a tall figure of his torturer and his foster father come out of the shadows, "Papa..."

The man had silver hair with multicolored strands underneath, maroon-colored eyes, snow-white skin as he wore a white pinstriped suit that was opened to the top of his stomach and a pair of polished matching loafers.

"It's not like you to fail."

"No...It's not. I had to play with her for a bit and she's a bit...resilient."

He crossed his arms over his chest, "Hmph, explain."

"I saw her exiting the school building and waited for the right opportunity before I pulled her in an alley and introduced myself. She was...being a bit mean so I gave her a bit of a smack. She didn't fall unconscious as many others did and even stayed awake after I punched her. She's a lot more resilient than the brutish monkeys strutting around nowadays."

"I see...But you only punched and slapped her once?"

"She's a feisty one, but before I could knock her out, she fired a heart at me and it exploded. I wasn't damaged by it considering that she missed, but the attack created a lot of noise and I had to escape, sadly." He finished softly

The man rubbed his chin, "Well, this just piques my interest. But we will keep her on the backburner for now. I'll have one of the grunts keep an eye on her and you get to stay here for the next two hours and think about what you have done."

"Of course, Papa."

He left the basement as the man slowly walked up the massive stairway and towards his office on the top floor, surrounded by windows. His assistant trailed after him from the shadows from behind until they entered his office.

His assistant stayed in the shadows, waiting for any order her savior had for her. The man walked towards one of the restrained individuals struggling as he pulled up a restrained middle-aged man by his shirt and raised a hand over his face, red fibers formed between his fingers.

Panic raced through every inch of his body before everything went dark for the man.


[Midoriya Residence]

Izuku had just finished taking a bath and got dressed in a pair of dark-washed jeans with a green t-shirt before she stood in front of her mirror and made to brush her hair. After brushing her hair it turned a deep red after that she put on her eye-changing contacts, blinking several times, switching through multiple colors only to settle on a plum purple.

Then she put on some foundation and made to cover her freckles before she double-checked that everything was in place before making her way into the living room to find her mother resting on the couch. She turned hearing her footsteps only to stiffen before she recognized her.

"Ah, are you going out?"

She nodded, "Yes. I will be right back, I ran out pens and pencils."

Inko gave a bit of giggle, "Very well. Be safe."

She kissed her cheek before making her way out of the apartment, keeping an eye out and made sure to avoid standing or walking too close to alleys.

[City Limits of Musutafu]

She just entered a small corner store with basic essentials and bought several packs of pens and pencils and just got her change. After telling the clerk goodbye and made to go home to rest only for her ears to catch the sounds of a fight. And it wasn't just any fight, it was a hero fighting a villain.

Izuku found herself drawn to the quickly-building crowd of people and made her way to the front as she watched the scene before her.

It was a C-rank hero Snarlin' Leo brawling against a villain that looked to be a mixture between King Kong and a terraformer. It didn't help that the villain had a hostage in his grip, a young woman that looked to be an office worker but she looked extremely uncomfortable. It was a toss-up if she was going to burst into tears, shit herself or faint and Izuku wouldn't blame her if the woman did all three.

Izuku made to observe everything she could before to write in her notebook when she returned home. Soon enough the fight ended with the villain losing, but it wasn't as crystal clean as everyone would have liked when Leo landed a disorienting finishing blow on the villain which released the captive, but it ripped off the woman's leg as they fell.

Gravity and how she fell awkwardly on the hard ground did not help her situation, the vile snap of bones caused the poor woman to scream and weep in agony. She was losing blood quickly from the shock and her missing leg. Her arms were broken from trying to break her fall. It was a very sad scene to behold as multiple medics and several sidekicks made to secure the area along with restraining the villain.

But, as they were doing that, Izuku felt her body move of its' own accord, tuning out and brushing past several sidekicks, medics, and adults that tried to pull her back and called her to fall back. But Izuku was only focused on the downed woman and her sobbing. When she came close enough for the woman to notice, before she could speak, Izuku activated her white heart and fired it into the woman's body, stopping the flow of pain, causing the woman to stare at her with wide golden eyes as the remaining set of tears produced continued to flow down her cheeks unhindered.

Izuku then got to work, her hands glowing a deep green and the glow remained on the remainder of the woman's leg before she softly excused herself for ruining her outfit and tore off the sleeves of her jacket, showing the limp, broken forms of her arms that would make anyone wince, but Izuku gave her a small smile and healed them. The bones mended before her eyes, much her shock and how good she felt, then Izuku repeated the same action with the other arm.

Then she turned her focus to the woman's leg, practically regrowing the limb entirely, the muscles, tendons, nerves, and blood vessels before the skin finally mended over it, leaving it to be completely healed. The entire block was silent as people stared at Izuku and the woman along with the woman's discarded leg that was clearly several feet away from the pair.

Even the villain that used to be struggling in his restraints was silent and compliant as Izuku softly asked, "Can you move your leg?"

The woman did as she asked, moving it with ease before the tears came, everything was fine as if she hadn't experienced the loss of her leg mere moments ago.

Izuku smiled at her and helped her to her feet before helping her get to one of the medics who took her into their arms before she stepped back, grabbing her bag. Izuku just realized what she had done, but she could only thank her lucky stars that she had her disguise on.

'Everyone was going to scold her for this.'

The heroes and medical staff could only stare at her before she raised a hand, "Be safe, everyone and I hope you feel better ma'am!"

Then she turned and raced away as several others made to ice the woman's severed leg while the rest called for her to stop but Izuku quickly ran out of sight. Conversations made the air tremble before someone in the crowd recorded the entire scene of the villain tearing off the woman's leg and Izuku healing the woman to perfect health.

It was soon posted on several online video sites and social media was raging that there was a mystery girl with an OP healing quirk, the video was soon seen by multiple people that had many ideas about the girl with such a powerful quirk and so began the hunt for the mysterious healer with no name.


Ending the chapter! Oh, Izuku, that acting without thinking will get you in trouble, but it fits you so well. And how will that fit? How will people react to seeing someone with such a powerful healing quirk? See you next time on Gentle & Fierce, What a Combo!

Thank you for your reviews!

Jerrend - Thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy it. And well, we will see, won't we?

renatoragnan4 - Yep, but its' my own twist on it.

Perseus12 - Yeah, he needs to do some heavy apologizing but where and when to do it is what Katsuki has to face. Along with the fact that Izuku having her own support system instead of just relying on him is playing onto his doubts that she doesn't need him anymore. His ego and his insecurities will haunt him, but the full force of his insecurities will hit him hard later on when he finds out Izuku has her quirk, but not in a way you would expect.

~Kourtney Uzu Yato!