A True Hero

by Maka.Albarn666

Amaya Hitachi didn’t have the most wonderful childhood; far from it actually. Due to her parents’ mistakes, she’s had to deal with a lot of crap in her life. Now that she’s been given the chance to make something of herself, she hopes she doesn’t ruin it. Join Amaya as she deals with her past, her emotions, her quirk and these kids who really want to be superheroes. (BNHA x OC)

22. Twenty

The rest of the day Amaya and her friends just chilled in her room talking about hero mess ups and the group introducing Amaya to memes.

Shōto had come in late because he got lost, which Amaya and the others made fun of him for a good twenty minutes. Too soon they all had to go home for dinner, leaving Amaya to go to the police station with Aizawa.

Briefly meeting with them wasn't such a hassle as Amaya expected, the man who questioned her was surprisingly kind to her and even complimented her cool-headedness in that situation. Aizawa and her left after she'd given her testimony about what occurred.

Walking back home, Amaya felt much better and her day ended with binge watching movies with Aizawa and Mochi.

Going to bed that night Amaya felt the Shigaraki incident play fresh in her head.

Gritting her teeth she hastily got into bed, angry that she was remembering that lunatic.

"I just have to go to bed, that's not a big deal."

Closing her eyes, she tried to relax, listening to Mochi's purr. For a while that worked, the soft rumbling distracting her from her own thoughts.

Before long she was falling asleep.

.

.

.

Amaya was back in the mall, but this time she was alone.

Looking around in confusion she called out for Aizawa.

"Aizawa? Hello? Anybody?" she shouted, feeling chills go down her back as she continued to walk.

Why was it so cold in here?

The mall lights weren't on either, giving the place an eerie vibe.

Something was wrong.

"AMAYA! HELP ME!" A loud voice screamed, shaking Amaya to her core.

She knew that voice.

Izuku!

Running she rushed into the direction that she heard her friend's panicked cry.

"Izuku I'm coming!" she responded, never slowing down as she ran past several closed stores.

Amaya came to a standstill as she saw the scene before her.

Izuku, on his knees, tears in his eyes, as he gripped onto Shigaraki's arm, who had his hands wrapped around the shorter boy's neck.

One finger up.

Shigaraki turned, smirking menacingly as he took in Amaya's disheveled appearance.

"Ahh, kitty, you're here. I knew you'd come," Shigaraki smiled, stretching his other arm out and making a beckoning motion with his hand towards her.

Amaya hesitantly stepped forward, each step felt weighted and she felt as if she'd throw up the closer she got.

She didn't want to be near him.

But she couldn't just leave Izuku like that.

Finally, being at arm's length away, Shigaraki reached for her and pulled her right into his arms.

Amaya flinched and instinctively struggled until she heard her friend's cry of pain.

Immediately she stopped, forcing herself to stay calm.

"That's my good little bitch, wouldn't want me to have to punish you by killing your little friend, right?" Shigaraki growled into her ear.

Amaya shook her head, refusing to make eye contact with the maniac holding her.

She felt a painful grip on her arm and yelped when her sweater disintegrated, falling to ash on the floor.

Amaya paled, being left only in a light string tee and her pajama shorts in front of Shigaraki.

She felt even more vulnerable and flinched violently when he started caressing her exposed arm.

"Look at me if you don't want me to do that to your friend," Shigaraki hissed, and Amaya whipped her head to glare at the man standing tall above her.

"Fuck you," she snarled, hating how his expression only got more excited.

"What a dirty little mouth you have. Maybe you want to be punished," Shigaraki chuckled.

Amaya's hard eyes widened at the threat and shook her head.

"P-please, punish me. Not Izuku," Amaya begged, glancing at her friend every few seconds, hating how scared he looked.

Shigaraki right out laughed at that, letting Izuku go and grabbing Amaya's waist in a forceful grip.

"Run Izuku!" Amaya shouted, thankful when the boy actually listened to her for once.

That is until she felt dry hands wrap around her own throat.

Gulping she tried to remain strong, hating her trembling body.

"Do you see that little bitch? How he just ran away? How he left you?" Shigaraki taunted, his grip getting tighter with each question.

Amaya wheezed, shaking her head.

"That's different. I told him to run, I don't want him to get hurt," Amaya argued, feeling lightheaded.

Shigaraki just giggled, tripping Amaya so that she slammed straight into the ground, her head snapping onto the floor where his hands were on her.

Groaning, Amaya tried to claw him away, but she didn't have any claws.

Where were her claws?

Panicking she tried to activate her quirk, but nothing happened?

Yajū?

"You can't escape me little bitch. Your quirk won't work on me, so you're mine now. Accept it!" Shigaraki smirked, moving his lips to lightly kiss all across Amaya's face, making her shudder in disgust.

Amaya shook her head, trying to ignore the tears forming on her face.

"No! Someone's going to save me!" Amaya tried to scream, but it came out as a weak, pitiful cry.

Shigaraki laughed again, louder, actually letting Amaya go to cover his face as he continued to chuckle.

"Who? WHO? No one is going to save you!" He cackled.

Amaya scowled, shaking her head as tears fell.

"Aizawa will save me! Izuku will come back!" Amaya croaked, trying to relax her heavy breathing.

"No one is coming to save you," Shigaraki muttered, tilting her head to the side.

There was Aizawa, nothing more than a statue, slowly crumbling to nothing.

"NO! STOP! BRING HIM BACK!" Amaya screamed, banging on Shigaraki's chest as her tears continued.

Shigaraki laughed, bringing his lips to kiss her neck, Amaya squirming every which way.

"No one's coming to save you," Shigaraki hummed, licking the area where Amaya's neck and collar met.

He turned her head the other way to give him more access and Amaya cried out as she saw her friends turn into statues exactly like Aizawa. Statues of Izuku, Bakugo, Hitoshi, Shōto, Tenya and Ochaco all looking scared and reaching out to her, slowly turning to dust.

"Because you failed them all," he whispered, his teeth sinking in hard.

"AHH!" Amaya screamed, twisting violently, fighting her sheets.

Aizawa burst through the door, eyes immediately scanning the room for danger, but all he saw was a frightened Amaya, crying in her bed.

Dropping his guard at once he headed over, sitting next to Amaya as he pulled her into a hug.

Amaya flinched, crying and screaming as she tried to push him away, still not aware of her surroundings.

"Let go! Let go let go let go!" She cried, her voice broken and cracking everywhere.

Aizawa did at once, staring at the small girl in concern, his own eyes wanting to water from the panic he was seeing.

Amaya's eyes were open, but she clearly wasn't present with him.

"Kid! Kid it's me! Aizawa! You're safe! I promise you're safe! Just take some deep breaths!" Aizawa gently instructed, holding his hands out so that the cat-girl would know he wasn't a threat.

Her gold eyes were slitted, cat appendages alert and frizzy, probably instinctively.

Aizawa began to take deep breaths counting to five and repeating until he noticed Amaya doing it on her own.

After a few minutes, her eyes returned to normal, and her breathing was less frantic.

The tears hadn't stopped but Aizawa was going to take what he could get.

Speaking softly, he whispered to her, "Amaya? It's me, Aizawa. Can you hear me?"

Amaya breathed and nodded, finally coming out from whatever she was experiencing.

Aizawa sighed in relief, bringing his hands slowly to where she could see them.

"You had a nightmare; do you want me to hug you?" He warmly asked, not wanting to breach her boundaries.

Amaya stayed quiet for a while, just breathing before she hesitantly nodded. Aizawa slowly wrapped his arms around her, trying to ignore her flinch, and slowly started petting her head.

"You're okay kid, you're safe. It's me. You're safe," he repeatedly assured, watching as the teen began to unwind.

Amaya didn't speak, just feeling Aizawa's warm arms around her. Aizawa was safe. He wasn't dead. And he was here.

He was here.

The two stayed like that, just enjoying each other's comfort even as the sun started to rise.

Aizawa so badly wanted to ask but stopped himself, staring down at the petite teen who merely watched the sun with a dazed look.

"Amaya? You don't have to tell me what happened, but do you feel better now?" Aizawa kindly asked, watching as the teen looked up at him.

Amaya blushed slightly at herself, feeling like a little kid again for having to have someone comfort her for her nightmares. But she was glad Aizawa did this.

She needed it.

Nodding she slowly detached herself from his arms, playing with the comforter.

"Thank you. I'm okay," she promised, looking up at him when she responded.

Aizawa nodded, obviously wanting her to elaborate but respecting her enough to leave it alone for now.

"Right well… my door is always open if you want to talk. And don't be ashamed if you're having nightmares. I get them too," Aizawa admitted, smiling at Amaya's shocked face.

Aizawa laughed softly, petting her head, trying not to frown when she winced.

"I'm going to make some early breakfast then, we still have time before we need to leave so don't rush," Aizawa said, standing from the bed and turning to leave.

Amaya nodded; her throat hurt too much to speak right now.

Aizawa left, as soon as the door softly closed, Amaya placed her head in her hands, sighing.

"What is wrong with me?"

"It was just a nightmare, that's normal."

Amaya frowned, hugging a pillow to herself at Yajū's words.

It wasn't weird that she was having nightmares, but she still hated it. Hated that Shigaraki could control her like this.

She could still feel his nasty tongue on her neck.

Reaching up she winced, touching the sore spot gently.

Should she cover it up?

Frowning Amaya decided to just let the wound breathe, maybe it would heal faster that way.

Slowly getting ready for school, she tried to forget devilish red eyes.

---

Walking to school Amaya felt much better than this morning. She really hoped this wouldn't be a regular occurrence and tried to focus on having a nice final week of school.

She didn't want to bother remembering useless things.

Instead, she wanted to finish her semester and start summer vacation.

Entering the classroom Amaya was surprised when all of her classmates suddenly got up from their desks to surround her. Amaya barely suppressed her flinch and tried to keep a calm face as they all worriedly checked on her, some of the students wincing at the large bruise on Amaya's neck.

"It's so manly that you stayed calm through that," Kirishima complimented Amaya, his friends agreeing.

"I know I'm sorry we didn't stay as a group, maybe we could have avoided that incident," Ashido apologized, pouting at the floor.

"No no, it's alright. Please don't apologize, it was out of everyone's control. I'm just glad it was me and not one of you that had to deal with this," Amaya honestly admitted, her voice coming out much smoother than yesterday.

Everyone stopped talking.

Then the girls started cooing at Amaya.

Blushing Amaya looked away but that only caused the girls to start awing, Ashido and Ochaco came forward and tried to reach for Amaya but the cat-teen backed up into the door as a reflex.

The students froze at that and Amaya hated the pity in their eyes. Ochaco and Ashido awkwardly stepped back, and Amaya sighed as she realized how weird she made things.

"Sorry Amaya-chan, we shouldn't have just come at you like that," Ochaco apologized, looking at the ground in guilt as she remembered what happened.

Of course, Amaya wouldn't want to be touched right now, she was so stupid!

Frowning Amaya shook her head, "it's not your fault."

It wasn't. Amaya was just being a coward.

"Well… anyways I think you're very sweet Amaya-chan!" Hagakure exclaimed, trying to defuse the situation, the others quickly catching on and agreeing.

"For real Amaya, I wish that didn't happen at all, no one deserves that. I mean you got a wicked bruise from that, but I can't imagine how awful that must've felt. You're so strong," Kaminari added.

Soon everyone was saying how brave she and Izuku were for dealing with that and Amaya could only awkwardly agree.

Thankfully before she could become suffocated, they had let the small teen through, noticing her uncomfortable twitching form.

Walking back towards her own desk she felt a tug on her arm, instinctively she ripped her wrist away rushing to back up, crashing into her desk in doing so.

Bakugo stared at her in shock, everyone watching the pair in interest. Amaya growled at herself, hating how defensive she was behaving.

She couldn't help it, ever since that stupid nightmare whenever she felt someone touch her, vermillion eyes flashed in her head.

But this was Bakugo, he would never hurt her.

She had to get it together.

Bakugo seemed to have snapped out his stupor and frowned, stepping closer, eyes blazing in anger when Amaya reflexively stepped back.

Amaya mentally hissed at herself for that.

He stopped in front of her, staring at her neck in disdain. Slowly bringing his hand up, Amaya was able to control her flinch when he touched her, but she still grimaced when he slid his thumb across the bruise, tracing the bite mark.

The gentleness of it all made her shudder and she looked at her shoes in shame. Ashamed of the ugly mark she now owned.

"Damn Deku couldn't keep you safe," he growled, mouth open in a snarl. Amaya's heart stuttered and she subconsciously grabbed Bakugo's warm hand.

"Bakugo I'm fine, there was nothing he could've done. Plus, it doesn't even hurt that much anymore," she explained, hoping to lower his anger.

Bakugo sighed, shaking his head as he refused to look away from the ugly bite mark on her pale skin.

"Next time I see that crusty bitch I'll blow him to ash. No one touches you," he snarled, interlocking their fingers and tightening his grip on her hand.

Amaya felt something in her stomach drop and a blush started to spread at Bakugo's menacing words.

Fortunately, Aizawa came in and saved her from blushing anymore, forcing the blond to take a seat.

Amaya fixed her desk and with that classes started as usual. Amaya was glad that she could at least touch her friends without problems, she'd just have to try to relax whenever they did it to her.

Fucking Shigaraki.

Sighing Amaya looked around, curious when she noticed green eyes staring at her in concern.

Smiling softly, she waved to Izuku who didn't realize Amaya had caught him. Flustered he waved back before scrambling to turn away.

She hoped he at least was feeling better than her. She hoped none of her friends ever had to experience what she did.

Trying to ignore her negative thoughts she looked around the class again, smiling as she saw the neutral faces of her friends.

They were safe.

That's all that mattered.

Amaya would've never believed she'd have such great close friends a few months ago. But now she was excited to participate with them in a summer camp and relax with Aizawa and Mochi.

Plus, it was starting to get close to a certain anniversary and ever since she was allowed to live in public, Amaya promised she would not miss it.

---

They were on a short break when Ochaco's bubbly voice rang near Amaya.

"Amaya let's go talk to the other girls!" Ochaco offered surprising the petite teen out of her stupor.

Gathered by Yaoyorozu's desk were all the 1-A girls, speaking frivolously. They didn't bat an eye as Amaya joined, merely waving kindly at her and Ochaco.

"Ooo yes Amaya, I'm so glad there's another one of us in this class filled with boys," Ashido excitedly claimed.

Amaya nodded, smiling at her acceptance.

"Did you guys hear that we aren't going to be allowed to travel this summer vacation?" Jiro announced, shocking all the girls.

Amaya wasn't shocked, considering she lived with their homeroom teacher and the fact that she wasn't necessarily allowed to travel in general; that fact didn't faze her.

"What? We have to refrain from taking long trips over the summer?" Ochaco repeated, sounding bummed out.

"Apparently it's a request from the school," Jiro further explained, disappointed herself.

"That's too bad, I was supposed to go to Venice with my parents," Yaoyorozu sighed.

Amaya's eyes bulged out of her head before she remembered that Yaoyorozu was rich. Ochaco however couldn't contain her own shock as she whispered the words under her breath.

"Aw man, I bought a new swimsuit too!" Ashido complained, shoulders dropping at the news.

"It can't be helped, we were attacked by the League of Villains," Jiro elaborated, trying to cheer everyone up.

"Even so I still wanna play! I wanna go somewhere!" Ashido whined, moving her hands excitedly.

Amaya giggled at the childish action, simply nodding along. She really didn't mind not traveling but she could understand why the others would be disappointed.

"Then do you guys wanna meet up at the school pool over summer vacation?" Hagakure offered.

"Oh yea, and if we're using the school pool then we could get permission from the teachers!" Asui supplied, her voice cheery.

"Good idea! Then we won't have to spend any money either!" Ochaco added, smiling. Amaya gently grabbed her shoulder, being the only one that knew of Ochaco's situation, and kindly squeezed it in comfort.

"That's way better than staying cooped up at home," Ashido laughed, the other girls agreeing.

"Then I'll get permission from the school!" Yaoyorozu stated, making the girls cheer.

Amaya smiled; glad her friends were going to be enjoying themselves.

"So, Amaya-chan what kind of swimsuit do you own?" Hagakure asked, all the girls turning their attention to Amaya.

Fidgeting slightly under their stares Amaya shook her head.

"Oh, I don't own a swimsuit, I don't even know how to swim really. I love taking hot showers but for some reason cold water and I don't mix," Amaya explained, laughing awkwardly as everyone stared at her ears.

"They don't have to stare. We're literally part cat! Besides, cold water sucks."

"Yajū be nice, I'm sure they mean nothing of it."

"Oh... well then at least there's the U.A. swimsuit you could use, and you don't have to swim if you don't want to," Asui offered.

Amaya stared at the girl in confusion. "Wait, you guys were including me in this?"

The girls stared at Amaya in shock before all collectively screaming a yes at her.

Blushing, Amaya bit her lip to hide her smile.

"Oh, sorry I'm just not used to that," she mumbled, playing with her sleeves.

"Well get used to it because now you're one of us!" Ashido exclaimed, the others nodding. Even Yaoyorozu who pointedly looked away.

"Thank you," Amaya shyly whispered.

"Why don't we all go in our school swimsuits then," Jiro stated, and the other girls agreed, not having a problem with that.

"Wait you guys don't have to do that just for me," Amaya said, looking at everyone worriedly.

Ochaco laughed, bumping their shoulders together, frowning in concern when Amaya jolted.

Amaya gave her a strained smile, trying to show that she was fine. Not that it seemed like it but at least Ochaco was kind enough to get it.

"You heard Mina, you're one of us. Deal with it," Ochaco reiterated, smiling brighter as Amaya's body relaxed again.

Amaya smiled, nodding. Yes, she was one of them.

That sounded nice.

---

The next few days passed in a similar fashion, Amaya would wake up in the middle of the night from her dreams and would stay awake until she had to go to school.

Thankfully none of her nightmares made her scream like the first one so she didn't wake up Aizawa.

However, the man wasn't clueless and even Amaya's friends had worried about her lack of sleep.

Stupid eye bags.

Hitoshi had even joked with her asking if she was trying to outdo him.

Jokes aside, her friends were awesome, kindly treading with not touching her too much and being patient with her whenever she did react.

Hitoshi was especially extra careful in that aspect which was surprising because he was usually the touchiest of all her friends. That only went to show how understanding and amazing he was.

Amaya felt like shit whenever she flinched with Aizawa and her friends. She hated seeing their concern or sympathy.

She knew they weren't pitying her, but it still frustrated her that she could no longer hug her friends without feeling a tight clamp around her neck.

And the face that Izuku would make whenever he accidentally touched her only left her heartbroken.

His eyes would glaze in shame and his face would pale as he'd hurriedly apologized.

It seemed like he still blamed himself after all.

Amaya wished she could change his mind, but she knew that she wouldn't.

"Stupid stubborn broccoli boy."

"I like to call him problem child myself," Aizawa huffed, coming from the kitchen, scaring Amaya half to death.

"Aizawa! You can't just creep out like that! I could have died!" Amaya exclaimed, holding the pillow close to her chest, tail flickering in irritation.

Aizawa smirked, subconsciously reaching over to ruffle her hair when he paused, letting Amaya see the action first. After her small nod, he viciously messed up her already unkempt hair.

Scowling and whining, Amaya lightly slapped his hands away, trying to comb down the long locks.

"Hey kid I just want to warn you about tomorrow," Aizawa started, reaching for the remote.

Amaya turned to him to show that she was listening, noticing that he was playing with the buttons, almost in a nervous action.

That was weird.

Aizawa was never nervous.

"So… I can't really say what we're doing but know we're going to the USJ," Aizawa explained after a painfully awkward silence, watching as Amaya's eyes went wide, her face turning stark white.

Heart thudding Amaya gripped onto the couch to ground herself.

The USJ?

Amaya slowly started to shake her head, quietly whining at the thought of entering that place again, her claws sinking into the soft fabric.

Slam.

Aizawa's crumpled form weakly fighting from under that monster...

Slam.

Aizawa's blood making a puddle run across the pavement...

Slam.

Amaya cried out, subconsciously reaching out to latch onto Aizawa's arm, tears springing to the surface.

Aizawa sighed, slowly wrapping his hands around Amaya, bringing her into his chest as he tried to calm her down.

He hated seeing her distressed, but this was exactly why she had to go back there.

Why they all had to go back to the USJ.

"Trust me kid, I get that that place brings back awful memories but being a hero means having to deal with that trauma and trying to move on," Aizawa softly explained, calmly rubbing circles on the short girl's back.

Amaya trembled but nodded, knowing he was right.

That didn't mean she liked it.

If she wanted to be a true hero, she had to face her fears head on.

Still sucked.

Taking a deep breath, she was able to calm her shaking down, offering up a weak smile. Aizawa returned a tight one back and slowly let go, watching as the teen cuddled into his side, trying to focus on the screen.

A comfortable silence wrapped around them and as time passed Aizawa heard soft breathing next to him.

Amaya had fallen asleep, head resting on his arm, hand lightly gripping his shirt as shallow breaths fell from her lips.

A few months ago, and this would've made him uncomfortable but now his heart couldn't help but warm up at the action. It only showed Aizawa once again how much Amaya cherished him.

He was glad to see that the feeling was mutual.

---

Amaya woke up the next day from her first pleasant sleep in a while only to be reminded of what entailed at the end of her classes.

Growling to herself she wrapped her tail around her arm to calm down.

She wasn't allowed to tell her friends what was going on today, but she was positive once they found out they would understand her excessive quietness today.

As she watched Aizawa gather at the front she could feel some people's stares on her, probably her friends worrying about her.

This wasn't going to make that better.

"Alright kids, today we're going back to the USJ," Aizawa announced, watching every student's reaction, keeping his face neutral even as some of them whipped their heads in shock at his words.

None of the students made any noise of enjoyment, most nervously looking at one another.

Amaya breathed deeply, counting in her head to stop the horrible headache that was starting to form.

"Now look kids, I understand that this place might bring back unwanted memories but unfortunately being a hero means facing these traumas head on. You can only rise to the top if you move forward," Aizawa advised as everyone slowly got up to retrieve their hero costumes.

"We are U.A. students! Aizawa-sensei is right, we must all trust in our teacher and U.A. to know that this will help us. We must keep training!" Tenya parodied trying to encourage everyone, Kaminari and Ashido laughing in the background.

Amaya shakily grabbed her things together and tried to concentrate on her breath as they began moving to the changing rooms.

Aizawa kept an eye on her the entire time, subtly sending her reassuring nods that everything would be okay.

"I know you're probably worried Amaya-chan, but I'm sure everything will be okay!" Izuku quietly commented, gently squeezing Amaya's shoulder, jolting her from her frozen state.

Instantly she regretted that as Izuku's face fell and she gripped his hand, wanting that awful expression to leave his face.

Not being to say much she mumbled a single thanks, squeezing his hand before running off to change.

A blushing Izuku nodded to nothing and went on to change, unaware of red eyes that watched the exchange.

Amaya went through the motions, barely even noticing when she left the locker room, surprised to see that she was now sitting with her friends on the bus.

The drive to the USJ seemed faster than usual, but Amaya knew it's because she couldn't focus on anything but the pure dread in her system.

Ochaco had asked to hold her hand and Amaya quickly accepted, warmth shooting through her whenever the bubbly girl squeezed it reassuringly. Even though she couldn't thank her friends she was truly grateful that they tried to talk on the bus in an attempt to distract her.

However, it was hard when everyone seemed on edge.

Arriving felt exactly as last time, pro hero Thirteen waiting for them at the entrance.

Amaya didn't want to move, she stayed glued to her seat, her pupils trembling.

A tight grip on her wrist pulled her up and she flinched, weakly trying to fight against the touch, having trouble as her body didn't know whether to stay put in order to avoid the USJ or attack because somebody was touching her.

The hot grip left her soon enough and she realized she had been dragged out of the bus, her friends sputtering her name.

Bakugo had led her a bit away from everyone and stared at her hard in the eyes.

"Listen shorty, I get that this place brings shitty memories for you but you gotta relax," he growled out, maroon eyes hinting at his concern.

Amaya hugged herself nodding, feeling shame creep up on her.

She couldn't help it but if Bakugo was worried she must've looked pretty bad.

What was she doing?

She was acting like some little kid. Aizawa was a pro-hero for a reason, if anything were to happen again, she'd be more prepared.

Bakugo looked like he wanted to say more but with everyone off the bus it seemed as though their alone time was gone. He roughly ruffled her hair before walking towards the front.

Amaya grumbled at the action ready to complain when Ochaco and Izuku appeared near her, worry clear in their expressions.

"Are you okay Amaya-chan? What did Bakugo want?" Ochaco asked, turning to glare at the blond boy who scoffed at the comment and looked away.

"I'm sure Kacchan didn't say anything bad," Izuku stated, looking a little unsure as he waited for Amaya's response.

Amaya smiled slightly at Izuku; of course, he'd still protect the one person who seemed to hate him.

"No, he didn't want or say anything bad. He just helped me clear my head," Amaya huffed, grabbing her friends hands as she moved to the front.

Both teens accepted the response and they all moved inside the gigantic facility.

Amaya didn't even hear anything anymore, more focused on watching Aizawa, even as her hands started trembling. Thankfully her friends squeezed them back reassuringly.

"Well, what happened, happened so let's just put that incident behind us!" Thirteen cheerfully commanded, watching as the class slowly nodded back, Amaya stiffening up as she zoned back in.

"Great! This class we will be focusing on rescue training today!" Thirteen announced, starting to move downstairs with Aizawa.

"Umm Aizawa-sensei I heard All Might was going to be here with us too. Where is he?" Izuku suddenly asked, letting go of Amaya's hand to stand in front of the teacher.

Aizawa shrugged, walking away muttering to not worry about it.

Amaya began walking with Ochaco, who was kindly still holding her hand.

Amaya stared at Izuku in wonder, maybe she wasn't paying attention, but she didn't realize All Might would be a part of this exercise.

"Maybe IcyHot is right and those two are related somehow."

"As much as I think Izuku would love that I doubt it. But they're relationship is a bit weird."

"Eh none of our business."

Amaya agreed, still curious but willing to ignore it for now as she walked with her classmates.

Once they were all in the landslide area, Thirteen began explaining the exercise. It seemed simple enough to Amaya: there would be three students at the bottom of the chasm they were standing above, one injured, one unconscious and the last one frantically worried. From there a group of four or five would have to bring them back up to safety as well as take charge of the situation.

Amaya kept looking around and everything seemed to be in order, she couldn't help as her eyes kept glancing at Aizawa every few seconds.

That is until her name was called to be part of the rescue squad with Bakugo, Shōto, Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami. Apparently Izuku, Ochaco and Tenya were the victims right now and Amaya laughed to herself as she saw Bakugo scowl at the idea of having to save Izuku.

Once those three were lowered, Tenya immediately began screaming from the chasm for help, and Amaya tried to get serious.

This is what she loved about heroes, actually helping people.

She got closer to the edge, still listening and just in time to hear Bakugo suggest blowing the cliffside away so they could just scramble down the rubble to rescue them.

Amaya stared back and gave the blond a deadpan look, truly in awe at his lack of common sense.

Thankfully Yaoyorozu seemed to hate that idea too, scolding Bakugo for his reckless nature.

Shōto, ignoring Bakugo completely, turned to the taller female to suggest for her to make a pulley to lower Tokoyami into the chasm to rescue the unconscious student first.

It seemed like ignoring Bakugo only pissed him off more and prompted Shōto to begin arguing with him as well.

Amaya watched at first as the two boys started getting heated in their argument before deciding to say something.

"That's smart, but we're all forgetting to do something," Amaya commented, shrinking slightly back when all of their stares were directed at her.

Clearing her throat, she turned away from her group to shout down below.

"Don't worry! You're all going to be okay! We're here to save you!" she shouted, trying not to wince at the crack in her voice. Her throat was doing much better than before, but it was still sore and tender and shouting didn't really help.

But that's what a hero had to do.

"Hitachi is right. Heroes always have to reassure the citizens before they do anything. Otherwise, it'd be complete chaos!" Yaoyorozu explained, Bakugo merely twitched in place, knowing both girls were right.

Thankfully that seemed to calm the two idiots down and her group was able to lower Tokoyami down.

Amaya helped the boys pull the first victim up as her quirk was useless in this instance.

With Ochaco safely lowered, Amaya couldn't help but smirk at her lack of composure. The bubbly girl was trying so hard not to laugh and failing miserably.

"Umm why are you laughing Uraraka-san?" Yaoyorozu asked, seeming concerned for the gravity girl's sanity.

"I-ida is too serious!" She giggled, making Amaya want to join in too.

As their group continued saving the others, Amaya felt relieved to see Aizawa and Thirteen supervising from behind, both safe.

Bakugo and Izuku were right, everything was fine.

---

The exercise continued with everyone until Amaya was the last to be rescued. Asui was just pulled up since she was 'unconscious' and Amaya patiently waited, smiling up at Ochaco who grinned determinedly as she finished fixing Amaya's leg with a splint.

"Don't be scared, okay? You're going to feel a bit weird but you're going to be safe," Ochaco calmly explained as she touched Amaya.

Amaya gasped quietly as she started to float up, her body feeling like nothing as she was swept up into the air.

Amaya could only watch in fascination as she floated above Izuku before she was dropped, landing perfectly in Izuku's arms.

"Safe!" Izuku announced, looking proud as he tightened his arms around Amaya. She stiffened slightly out of reflex before relaxing in his grip.

Amaya started blushing, feeling Izuku's hard muscles through his costume. He'd yet to put her down but Amaya didn't really mind as he continued to hold her bridal style.

Still, she could feel people staring at her so shyly lifted her head to speak up.

"Umm Izuku? Y-you can let me down now," she whispered, watching as the curly haired boy blushed and sputtered apologies as he gently lowered her down.

"I-I'm so sorry Amaya-chan! I—"

"You're fine Izuku, I felt safe in your arms," Amaya whispered softly, standing on her toes to make sure he could hear her words, hoping he understood the double meaning.

Ever since the mall Amaya felt like she had ruined Izuku's confidence, and she hoped to express to him that she truly did feel safe in his arms. Izuku blushed and stared at her with an unreadable expression, making Amaya's body heat up. Thankfully he nodded and she quickly walked away from the green-haired boy, hoping he missed her bright blush.

After they had finished that exercise Thirteen explained that they had one last exercise to do for the day.

Moving to a more urban area, Amaya felt herself slowly unwinding as she realized that there really wasn't any current danger around them.

"Thank god."

"Eh, danger is always possible, don't let your guard down."

Amaya hated to admit that it was true, but she knew that if she really wanted to be a hero her life would always be filled with some type of action. Right now she was safe, but it wouldn't hurt to still scan the vicinity.

"Now we'll continue in this setting, unlike the first exercise, this training situation will be different," Thirteen began, gathering everyone's attention.

"The purpose of this scenario is to give a more genuine experience of what might happen to you all one day in the field. The injured could be anywhere and we don't know in what state they'll be in when we find them. You'll have eight minutes to spread out while four of you will be the heroes," Thirteen continued, looking at everyone who were perking up at this seemingly hide-and-seek type exercise.

"The other 17 must hide whichever place they want, but eight of them are not allowed to speak! I'll pick those right now," Thirteen said as she pointed to eight different students, Amaya being one of them.

"Now I'll select your rescuers: Bakugo, Uraraka, Mineta and Midoriya! The rest of you go hide now!" Thirteen exclaimed, everyone scattering to find somewhere for their classmates to find them.

Amaya giggled to herself at seeing the pure frustration in Bakugo's face for having to work alongside Izuku.

Maybe one day she'd ask about their relationship more because as of now she only knew that they've both known each other for at least a while but obviously aren't friends. And yet that didn't seem to be enough to describe their relationship, it was simply too complex to say that they were just rivals.

Trying not to get in over her head she shook it and ran as far as she could, wanting to hide in one of the crumbled up buildings.

"Ugh I hope Mineta doesn't find me, I don't think I can hurt my rescuer."

"They never said you couldn't."

Laughing softly to herself she couldn't help but agree with that.

"Do you always laugh by yourself?" Shōto called out, scaring Amaya.

"What the hell Shōto! I almost had a heart attack!" Amaya bit out, hating that her voice shook.

Shōto let out a small smirk, trying not to laugh as he watched the shorter teen's tail flick irritably.

"Sorry I just saw you walking by yourself and then you just randomly laughed when we're supposed to be hiding," he explained, sounding amused.

Amaya blushed and rolled her eyes, starting to head inside one of the taller buildings, Shōto following her.

"Are we allowed to hide together?" Amaya asked, seeing as the other boy made no plans to go off by himself.

Todoroki shrugged before plopping down on a large piece of rock.

Amaya sighed and followed suit, letting herself curl up in the corner as she waited to be rescued.

As she sat down, she let herself relax, waiting to be rescued. Having no thoughts come to her head she watched Shōto get lost in his own head for a while, before his hand slowly reached up to touch his scar.

She stood quietly and walked near him, but her movement seemed to knock him out from whatever he was thinking, and his face changed from stressed too indifferent.

Frowning Amaya slowly placed her hand in his, staring up at his scar.

She knew exactly how he got that scar, and it broke her heart every time she had to think about how little Shōto was when it happened.

"I won't pry but I hope you know you are nothing like that man. You're so much better," she whispered, watching as his eyes widened at her words, clenching onto her hand in a vice grip.

Slowly, she raised her other hand to hover above his scar, watching Shōto's shoulders tense at the suggestion. She didn't do more than wait for his permission to move.

When he breathed deeply and nodded, she ever so carefully caressed his left eye, feeling the difference of skin immediately.

Shōto shuddered at the gentle motions, subconsciously moving his head to get more affection.

Amaya blushed but didn't stop, hoping that she was helping her friend. It seemed to be working as Shōto leaned in closer, squeezing her hand every few seconds.

"What's this?" A deep voice interrupted, scaring the two teens.

Both students tensed, Shōto jumping in front of Amaya as he called out, "Who's there?"

Suddenly there was a rumble and dust flew everywhere, Amaya could only stare in shock at the gigantic masked man that appeared in front of them.

"Not again."

"Fuck!"

No. No no no!

Aizawa.

Eyes widening Amaya stood in her battle stance, growling at the perpetrator. Shōto immediately tried to use his ice but the man had moved too fast for either of them to notice.

The attacker was behind both of them, and Amaya raised her katanas to shield them as the man yelled at them for being too slow.

Letting her quirk activate she let a dark tendril of miasma shoot out when the attacker suddenly pulled of his mask revealing that he was—

All Might.

Squeezing her eyes shut she forced her miasma back into her body and glared at the pro hero in front of her. Her chest ached at that action; her lungs were going to face the consequences later for that.

All Might flinched at the small girl's glare, sheepishly laughing as he lowered himself to speak with the two annoyed teens.

"Apologies Young Amaya and Young Todoroki, I was hoping you two could help me with a certain plan," All Might nervously asked, slightly fearing the twitches coming from the smaller person in the pair.

"All Might I swear if you are going to hurt—"

"Wait Young Amaya, please allow me to explain," the large pro begged as he cut Amaya off.

She glared but shut her mouth to listen as All Might explained that he wanted to show the students that villains could attack at any time and this would be a great way to get the students over their trauma.

It seemed counterproductive to Amaya because truly this could make the students worse off but a small part of her believed that they would step up to the plate.

And it wasn't like she was the one responsible for this.

"At least I know Aizawa is safe, I can live with that."

Sighing, Amaya nodded, agreeing to be one of his captured victims along with Shōto.

"Just don't hurt my friends because if you do, I'll make sure you regret everything," she hissed as he grabbed her from her costume, flinching lightly at the touch. The pro nodded hesitantly, giving Amaya sympathetic eyes, making sure to grab the girl extra carefully.

Amaya truly felt like a small kitten in All Might's large arms and tried to calm down from the scare he gave her.

Shōto was literally snuggled right next to her and Amaya was glad that she'd have to close her eyes and pretend she was unconscious because otherwise she didn't know if she could handle being so close to the other teen.

"I apologize in advance for any and all jostling you're about to feel, please just try and remain 'unconscious.'"

Shōto and Amaya nodded and soon they were off, feeling the wind pass through them as All Might ran.

Amaya tried not to scrunch up her face, but she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous in her position.

"Relax, we have to look like we're unconscious," Shōto whispered, his voice so close to her ears Amaya had to repress the gasp that wanted to escape.

Taking a deep breath, she let herself go, trying to remain limp.

She could hear Tenya's stressed voice as he noticed All Might and heard the blue-haired boy's cry of watch out for Ochaco and Jiro.

Amaya felt everything shake around her and she kept bumping into Shōto, but she remained unmoving to stay in character. All Might was at a standstill now and so Amaya kept her body sagging, restraining her ears from twitching at her friends' voices.

"Todoroki-kun? Amaya-chan?" Ochaco's shaky voice called out.

Amaya immediately felt guilt creep into her system, but she tried to push it out, hoping that All Might's plan would work in helping everyone's trauma.

"We have to tell the teachers!" Tenya called out, the voice of reason.

All Might laughed darkly at that, "that would be a great idea, but I've already incapacitated them."

The students gasped and Amaya was sure they looked over and saw where a tied up 'unconscious' Thirteen and Aizawa were.

"A villain? A-Amaya-chan! And Todoroki-kun!" Izuku's worried voice appeared.

Amaya bit the inside of her cheek; she was starting to feel really bad for lying to her friends.

"All Might better be right about this."

SuddenlyAll Might stomped his foot down and Amaya's body tried to fly out of the large man's grip. She had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from squealing at the wind slapping her around.

"We have to run away!" Mineta cried out, sounding ready to piss his pants.

"My hero."

"How did this kid even get accepted into this school?"

"I wish I could answer that."

A booming explosion made itself known and Amaya was jostled all over again.

"You guys can run, I'll defeat this extra," Bakugo confidently called out, his voice full of his usual arrogance.

Funnily enough that only warmed Amaya's heart, glad to see Bakugo would always be himself. His spirit to win and be a hero would always overrun any possible fear. And that was admirable as it was worrying.

With Bakugo now in the equation, going full frontal attack, Amaya and Todoroki kept slamming into each other.

It was an annoying side effect, but it also showed how strong Bakugo's explosions were, Amaya wondered how he hadn't gone deaf with how loud they were.

It only took a moment for Bakugo to catch All Might off guard and with an exceptionally strong explosion Bakugo was able to knock All Might off his center of gravity.

Amaya held in her groan at Todoroki's arm slamming into her stomach and she could feel his worry even with her eyes closed.

"I should've just poisoned All Might. Why the hell did I agree to this?"

"What do you mean by weaklings Bakubro?" Kirishima's voice rang out, shaking Amaya from her thoughts.

"I agree. We are all class 1-A students, training to be heroes. We will not run away," Yaoyorozu continued, her voice quieting down as the rest of the students loudly agreed.

Amaya smiled then, internally laughing to herself.

This was why she agreed then.

"Maybe All Might knows what he's talking about after all."

With everyone now working together, All Might was overwhelmed, and Amaya could feel her teacher struggling, especially when she felt a net cover her.

"AH!" All Might shouted, easily shaking everyone off, a powerful wind shaking everything around them.

"Never mind. This guy doesn't understand what holding back means."

Amaya heard an explosion near her and was glad Bakugo had done that otherwise she would've broken character to punch All Might herself.

Bakugo alone continued to fight, his explosions and hits barely moving All Might.

"He's getting tired… why is he the only one fighting?"

"It seems your energy is ending. Time to end this," All Might threatened, Amaya stiffening at his words.

"Hah! Don't make me laugh, I'm barely getting started," Bakugo cockily taunted.

"Now!" Izuku shouted from a distance, Amaya barely catching his words.

"Now what? What is he talking about?"

Distracted with Bakugo's battle cry, she felt smoke fill her lungs at his strong explosion.

Feeling disoriented, she felt Todoroki and her in someone's grasp, ripped away from All Might's hand.

Dropped unceremoniously onto the ground Amaya heard Izuku's cry of, "SMASH!"

Wind blew everywhere and Amaya was glad she was on the floor because she forgot just how strong Izuku's quirk was and gasped at his power.

"Weaklings step aside," Bakugo taunted, and Amaya could only hear as more explosions went off.

Amaya couldn't see anything, but she heard her classmates' cheers of incapacitating All Might and how Bakugo perfectly followed through with Izuku's plan.

"Did… did they work together on this?"

"It's really unclear. Still... didn't think blondie would ever do that. "

"I— I'm just going to feel proud and say they definitely worked together."

"Now it's time for the final blow," Bakugo sadistically called out, breaking Amaya out of her thoughts.

Struggling not to laugh she heard All Might's quiet, panicked mumbling.

"I AM HERE!" All Might shouted, and Amaya couldn't take it anymore, silently laughing. She couldn't imagine how scared the old man probably felt but she wished she could've seen his face.

"You went overboard you idiot!" The class shouted and Amaya only laughed harder, shoulders shaking from the force.

Shōto smiled softly from where he stood and offered his hand to the cackling cat-teen.

Finally calming down, Amaya accepted it and together they walked toward their classmates only for Izuku to immediately whip his head towards them.

"Todoroki-kun! Amaya-chan!" Izuku sputtered out, his concern melting away once he saw his friends were unharmed.

Bakugo paused his yelling to stare at the traitor pair for a moment. Without hesitation he began stomping from his spot, marching straight towards Amaya, causing her hair to stand up.

"Oh shit."

Squealing, she ran away, pissing him off more and causing him to chase after her.

"You fucking brat! You were in on this shit! I'm going to kill you!" Bakugo declared, his words practically coming out as growls as he sped to catch the little demon.

Amaya laughed as she avoided the blond's hands slipping and diving in every direction.

Amaya couldn't say she was mad at how her day at the USJ ended. After all, Aizawa was safe, she conquered her fear, she pissed Bakugo off and got to see her classmates scold and beat up All Might.

Maybe the USJ wasn't so bad.

---

After that eventful exercise, the rest of the semester seemed easy.

Amaya felt confident in her exams and as she walked home that last day, she was excited to hang out with the girls during summer break.

After everything that she'd been through, despite not knowing how to swim and hating the water she was excited to hang out with just girls.

Aizawa seemed to like that too, complaining that Amaya was too nice to the boys in her class.

The first day of break Amaya woke up bright and early to accompany Aizawa as he still had work. She wanted to walk with him and enjoy the quiet morning.

As soon as they entered the school grounds Amaya headed towards the changing rooms and took off her comfy sweats in exchange for a U.A. swimsuit.

Once everything was in her bag, she neatly stored it in her locker and started walking towards the pool area when she caught her reflection.

The bruise on her neck had almost completely faded away, only the slightest red tint still appearing on her pale skin. Her messy black hair flowed all the way to her butt now; she'd have to cut it soon.

However, Amaya frowned as she looked at herself in the suit.

She was flat.

Flat as fuck.

Usually, Amaya never focused too much on her body, already knowing she looked pretty scrawny to most, but this was just annoying.

She had barely anything to call a chest! Her arms, legs and stomach were toned but she looked more like a skinny dude than a girl.

Groaning, she shook her head. Why did it even matter?

"Hmm wanna impress someone?"

"No! I just… don't want to be so flat."

"Liar."

Frowning, Amaya lightly slapped her cheeks. She was being ridiculous. Who cares if she didn't have a big bust? It wasn't like she was interested in anyone anyways.

"Liar."

And even if she did find some people objectively attractive, she knew they would never like her like that anyways.

"You sad A-cup."

Growling Amaya quickly walked out the doors, not wanting to hear herself anymore.

The pools were outside, and the day was so beautiful that Amaya let herself breathe, forgetting about her insecurities for a moment.

Her friends were to arrive soon as they all agreed on eight and it was already 7:35 in the morning.

Sitting near the corner of the pool, in the shade she neatly tucked her legs in as she waited for someone to arrive.

She looked into the clear blue water and felt her lips curl in distaste. Touching it with the tip of her toe she hissed quietly at the cold before moving her body back more until she was pressed up against the fence.

The temperature felt so nice against her skin, the only sounds to be heard were the occasional birds chirping. Amaya found herself in such a relaxed state that she could've napped right there and then.

Until a burst of people came out that almost scared the shit out of her. She had been expecting just the girls so when basically the whole class came out, she couldn't help but scream as she jumped up, looking like a startled cat.

Awkward silence filtered through until the girls began running over to Amaya. As they approached her some asked her why she was in the school so early.

Amaya tried to answer but felt her heart stop as shirtless Bakugo and Shōto entered the area, her face turning red.

"Amaya-chan is it too hot? Your face is heating up!" Ochaco worriedly asked, gently grabbing onto the cat-teen's face. Amaya only blushed harder, and it wasn't because of the heat.

"I'm fine, just startled is all," she admitted, trying to keep her eyes off certain people's bodies.

She knew all her classmates were pretty fit, it came with the future job description. But seeing it was different from just thinking about it.

Amaya tried not to stare but she betrayed herself by sneaking a peak every few seconds.

Amaya wasn't the only one staring though, as most of the guys in her class looked at her in shock. They hadn't expected Amaya to want to join in this type of activity, but most were pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

Bakugo stared at the petite teen in the corner, wanting to walk over and tease her for all the staring she was doing. He doubted she knew he could tell that her stares weren't that subtle, but he didn't mind it. It only stroked his ego that she seemed to appreciate all the hard work he'd put into his body.

Shōto, oblivious to the cat-girl's sneaky glances, merely gave her a once-over as well. She was quite small overall, but her toned legs and arms showed that she did work out. He wondered briefly if she'd enter the water.

"Well why don't we all start stretching together now that we're here. Even if you don't participate in swimming Amaya you could still stretch with us." Yaoyorozu quietly offered, not directly looking at Amaya, shocking said teen from her stupor.

Embarrassed, and slightly shocked it was Yaoyorozu who kindly invited her, Amaya merely nodded. As the girls began to stretch Amaya couldn't help but ask why the boys were here too.

Ochaco explained that Izuku had apparently asked the guys to train at the pool and so that's why they were all here now.

"Damn nerd never takes a break."

"He's hardworking, that's admirable! It's just kinda funny he's not here yet"

"Hmmm. Yea you seem so upset, staring at IcyHot and Boom Boom boy's body."

Blushing Amaya tore her eyes away from a certain pair of abs that she had been unknowingly admiring… again.

Trying to not get lost in looking at all her well fit classmates, Amaya began getting into her stretches.

It had worked fine until she raised her eyes and had to do a double take once she noticed Izuku had joined the group.

Heat that had been diminishing burst again throughout Amaya's entire body. Amaya had seen Izuku in tank-tops and highly admired his arms but seeing him shirtless was a whole different level.

He felt her gaze, the green haired boy turned and cheerfully waved at her.

Amaya awkwardly waved back, hating herself for watching as Izuku's muscles contracted. Yet she couldn't look away.

These boys would be the death of her.

---

Though Amaya felt like an outsider, watching as the boys trained hard and the girls played volleyball, she found that she didn't mind just watching her friends have fun.

And it wasn't like the girls didn't try to include her, Amaya just didn't like the water and couldn't swim.

So, she settled for comfortably laying down on the pavement, hearing her friends giggling and answering the occasional random question.

That is until she heard Bakugo screaming something about competing against Izuku which piqued her interest. Sitting up she whispered to the girls to listen in.

"It's true that just training isn't that interesting… Hey everyone! Do you want to see which of the boys can swim 50 meters the fastest?" Tenya asked, gathering the boy's attention.

Immediately responses of yes came through and Amaya watched at first as the girls came out of the water, Yaoyorozu leading them towards the boys. Amaya lazily trailed behind, watching everything unfold amusedly from behind the girls.

"Iida let us help too!" Yaoyorozu generously offered, which Tenya kindly accepted.

Amaya zoned out after that, more interested in watching as Bakugo once again threatened Izuku.

"Pomeranian really hates this kid."

"At least this time he's not punching Izuku."

As everyone got into position Amaya took her place sitting in the shade. It was Kaminari, Bakugo, Koda, Tokoyami and Mineta racing first.

"Bakugo's going to win."

As if he heard her mental thought, Bakugo turned towards her and smirked.

"Idiot."

Cheeks tinted pink Amaya looked away until the whistle blew.

Not even touching the water, Bakugo blasted himself towards the other side, instantly winning.

"He didn't even swim!"

"Who cares? He won."

"It's freestyle," Bakugo defended, scowling at Kirishima and Sero who were complaining about the lack of swimming.

In the next race Shōto won, again with no swimming involved. Amaya couldn't help but laugh at Kaminari's indignant face as Shōto slid into first place.

The next line was more interesting as it was Tenya, Izuku, Shoji, and Ojiro competing.

Amaya sat up, ears and tail perked up as she watched entranced, honestly wondering who'd win this race. She kinda hoped Izuku did but she couldn't explain why.

"On your marks, get ready, go!" Yaoyorozu screamed, blowing the whistle.

Within seconds Izuku was actually swimming in the water, while Tenya slid on the rope lines.

"At least one of them understands what swim means."

At first it seemed as though Tenya was in the lead but before Amaya could blink, Izuku was catching up, catching up fast. They were neck and neck, no one could tell who'd win until a resounding smack across the wall was heard, Izuku's scarred hand being the culprit.

Amaya smiled, leaning back and laughing as everyone else roared cheers towards Izuku.

From there the races got smaller and smaller until the last three to compete were Izuku, Shōto and Bakugo.

"Oi! You both better not hold back goddamn it," Bakugo growled, staring at the two boys intensely.

"No matter what, no one can say Bakugo doesn't have integrity."

As the three lines up Amaya felt nerves enter her stomach. She didn't know who she wanted to cheer for or who'd win. She just hoped nobody ended up hurt.

"All right! The 50 meter freestyle final will commence!" Tenya loudly announced, seriousness exuding out of his every pore.

Biting her lip Amaya could only watch in slow motion as Tenya blew the whistle. All three got ready to jump when they all… fell?

Turning around Amaya frowned as she saw Aizawa standing there, his quirk activated.

"It's 5pm, get out," he bluntly stated, ignoring everyone's whines before heading back inside.

Amaya sighed as she stood up, brushing off her backside of any dirt and prepared to leave. Walking close to Ochaco, she heard everyone's grumbling, Bakugo's muttered curses as well, though everyone knew better than to complain.

"I wonder who would've won."

Amaya stopped as she felt slimy eyes on her back, turning around she glared at Mineta who was shamelessly staring at Ochaco's butt.

"Hey, eyes off her you perv!" Amaya hissed, ready to swing a kick when the little twerp threw one of his sticky balls at her. Dodging it easily by side stepping, Amaya prepared to attack when she felt a shift in her center of gravity.

One second, she was upright ready to kill, the next she was plunged into cold water.

Hissing Amaya began scrambling to get her head up, pathetically splashing the water around, trying to stay afloat. She could barely hear her classmates shout her name, everything garbled underwater as she started to sink.

Fear overtook her as the surface seemed to get farther away and she squeezed her eyes tight, wanting all this to be over.

Multiple splashes surrounded her and suddenly she felt strong arms grab her.

Quickly being pulled out of the water, Amaya began coughing, spewing liquid everywhere as she shakily clung to her hero.

Wide gold eyes looked to meet a mix-match of grey and teal. Shōto looked as if he wanted to yell at her but was too busy hurriedly looking over her body for injuries. Still in shock, the small teen just snuggled herself into the crook of his neck, trying to calm down.

Had she raised her head she would've seen the concerned eyes of her classmates, Izuku and Bakugo especially from where they were in the water.

Ochaco and the other girls were currently yelling and hitting Mineta as Tenya and Yaoyorozu watched, ignoring his cries.

Amaya sniffled, ignoring everyone as she breathed in Shōto, the heat coming from his left side comforting.

Once they were out of the water, Shōto still carrying her in his arms, Amaya knew she should get off him and thank him. But he was so warm so instead she kept her head where it was, mumbling a thank you as she shivered.

Shōto didn't respond, merely heating up his body a bit more, hoping to warm up the trembling teen in his arms.

Bakugo and Izuku watched with jealousy from the sidelines but couldn't complain since Todoroki was helping her.

Ochaco left the girls to check up on Amaya, her worried eyes scanning the cat-teen all over for any injuries, glad to find none.

Shōto didn't want to let Amaya go but he worried he was starting to breach her boundaries and tried to let Amaya down, but she merely tightened her grip, whining at the action.

Everyone who heard that small noise froze and Shōto felt his cheeks heat up.

"That was cute," Shōto thought as he subconsciously squeezed her closer, trying to shift her away from everyone's penetrative stares.

Amaya would come to feel embarrassed about that once she came to her senses, but right now she was only making things worse as she started purring, gently nuzzling her face against Shōto's cheek instinctively.

No one said anything for a moment, just watching the scene.

Until—

"WHAT THE FUCK PIPSQUEAK!" Bakugo roared, face red in anger as he stood up.

"Amaya-san! T-that is very inappropriate to do in public!" Tenya shouted, obviously embarrassed as he avoided looking at the petite girl.

"A-Amaya-chan w-what are you doing?" Izuku stuttered out, face flushed as he turned to look away.

"Todoroki give me Hitachi, the rest of you— leave, now," Aizawa commanded, looking tired and pissed off, reappearing after having heard the commotion.

Amaya was hastily placed in Aizawa's arms, said girl whining at the action, as everyone else scrambled to run away, fearing for their lives as their homeroom teacher practically promised death to anyone who stayed.

"Kid, you and I are going to talk about this at home. You can't just rub your cheeks against someone else's, especially boys," Aizawa groaned when they were finally alone, silently glad she was unharmed as he watched the cat-teen finally start to snap out of it.

"Huh?" Amaya questioned, eyebrows furrowing together as she looked around to see it was only Aizawa and her left by the pool.

Shivering she felt her drenched swim suit sticking to her and wondered why Aizawa was carrying her.

Amaya falling into the pool…

Shōto heating her up….

Amaya purring…

"Shit, did I really do that?"

"Yep."

Cheeks red Amaya groaned, slamming her head into her hands. At least she wouldn't have to see her classmates again until next week.

---

Tic…

Tic…

Tic…

Amaya sighed, turning over and quietly shutting off her alarm. She'd been awake all night, too numb to think, too anxious to sleep.

The red numbers shone glaringly in the dark room.

5:07 AM.

"Happy birthday Kou," she whispered, miniature tears escaping her.

Gently wiping her eyes, she slowly stood from her bundled position, quietly putting on a simple black dress, mindlessly trying to tame her black hair.

She held a small hand mirror in one hand that Aizawa had given her a few days prior and just stared at her reflection.

Drained gold eyes stared back at her.

"Would Kou have kept his hair long or short?"

"Like you don't know…. lil brat hated dealing with his hair."

Amaya huffed at that, agreeing, her younger brother would definitely have kept his hair short.

"Would he be shorter than me? Taller?"

Kou had always been a pretty small kid, Amaya couldn't imagine him being taller than her, even at her short stature.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she was reminded that she'd never know.

A shaky sigh escaped her, and she shook her head to focus.

This was the first year where she could visit Kou without a time limit, without the fear of getting in trouble for sneaking out.

The two years Amaya lived with Ms. Reí she had risked putting her life on the line twice; sneaking out would have sent her back to prison but she couldn't miss Kou on this special day.

Thankfully with Aizawa, Amaya had nothing to worry about.

Still… she hadn't mentioned this at all due to her nervousness.

She hoped Aizawa wouldn't get too angry at her for sneaking out like this but if she risked visiting Kou back then she was definitely going to do it now.

Trekking quietly, she softly pushed her door open, not evening closing it in fear of it squeaking.

Tiptoeing down the stairs, she was mindful of avoiding the creaky steps, softly padding through the floor. She was halfway through the living room when her ears twitched at a light being turned on.

Whipping her head around she looked up to see an unimpressed Aizawa tiredly staring at her from the couch.

Amaya held her squeak in, breathing deeply in hopes to calm herself down.

"Aizawa…" Amaya muttered once she caught her bearings, looking at the floor, too embarrassed to meet the older man's eyes.

Aizawa huffed, standing up and walking over to the small teen, leaning against the wall to stare her down. He had heard her shuffling for a while now and seeing her a black dress he could only raise his eyebrows in confusion.

"Umm kid, never pegged you as someone who sneaks out, but I have a feeling it's for different reasons from what I'm thinking about. What's up?" Aizawa calmly spoke, trying to keep his face relaxed so as to not scare her.

Amaya blushed, playing with the sleeves of her dress as she built up the courage to tell him the truth. After a few moments of silence, Amaya shakily explained.

"It's uhh… my-my birthday today. Meaning it's also my twin's and I just wanted to see him," she muttered at the end, gripping tightly onto her own arms, pain spiking in her chest at remembering Kou.

Aizawa blinked.

He felt his heart stop at hearing those words; he had completely forgotten that it was Amaya's birthday.

It was August 1st already?

Amaya stayed standing there awkwardly, hoping to everything that Aizawa would let her go out.

"I see… Your brother passed away, right?" Aizawa politely asked, his heart squeezing at her sad nod.

Nodding Aizawa walked towards his coat, taking some yen out and placing it in Amaya's closed fist.

Amaya stared at him in confusion, but Aizawa simply smiled softly at her.

"It's his birthday, right? I'm sure he'd appreciate some flowers from his sister," he encouraged, grabbing his black jacket and carefully placing it on her shoulders.

"In case you get cold," he muttered, cheeks slightly pink.

Amaya stood still, eyes wide at his kind actions.

He was actually letting her go?

And giving her money to buy Kou flowers?

Amaya held her tears of appreciation in and softly reached for his arm, squeezing it in gratefulness.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Aizawa merely patted her head, gently caressing her black locks.

"Take your phone with you if you want me to pick you up or for some company. Just be home by 4:00 please?" Aizawa pleaded as he followed her to the door.

Amaya nodded, perfectly happy with that curfew and made her way out.

She had to buy some white lilies for her little brother.

---

Walking down the cemetery always made Amaya feel uneasy, and her stomach only clenched more as she reached her brother's stone.

Thankfully since her trip from home to the cemetery the sun had risen and so it wasn't dark as she made her way down the path.

Lilies in hand she shakily placed them in their vase before falling onto her knees, tearily staring at the same in front of her.

Kou Hitachi.

Loved son and brother.

May he play amongst the stars.

"Happy birthday Kou, we're 16 now. Can you believe that?" Amaya started, sniffling lightly.

Nothing more was said as she began the process of cleaning his stone, letting her mind wonder through her selective memory.

Reminiscing her past advantages, she saw Kou making her a flower crown in those quiet moments of their strict childhood. Both of them staying up late in their shared bedroom gazing at the stars above.

Amaya began humming softly, unaware of her surroundings as she just sat enjoying the breeze as stared at her brother's stone, remembering his little face in her mind.

"That's a lovely melody you're humming sweetheart," a deep voice stated, his amusement subtle.

Amaya gasped, falling backwards onto long legs in shock, looking up and immediately wincing at the bright sun that blinded her eyes.

A raspy chuckle made her ears twitch and she felt strong hands reach for her. Flinching Amaya curled into herself in reflex but that didn't stop whoever this was. He pulled her up like she weighed nothing, and Amaya was surprised at how gently he placed her on to her feet.

"Even standing you're still short," he snorted.

Pissed off, Amaya opened her mouth ready to retort when her mouth instantly closed in surprise. This man before her was tall, looming over her small form, making her take a small step back.

With dark features and blazing turquoise eyes anyone would be mesmerized but that's not what silenced her.

Instead, Amaya couldn't look away from the patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that covered much of his lower face and neck. It seemed like it reached all the way down past his collarbone; it was even below his eyes and covered his ears.

"Careful there doll, don't you know it's rude to stare," he tsked, stepping closer and tightly grabbing her face in his scarred hands, forcing her to stare into his bright eyes, his voice no longer holding any form of teasing or joy.

Amaya held her breath, snapping her eyes away instantly, looking at his chest, as she tried to move her head out of his warm hands. The stranger let go and Amaya felt her chest ease up, however her immediate guilt overpowered any other emotion.

"Y-you're right. I'm so sorry, it's just that they look like they really hurt," she blurted out, hurriedly slapping her hand over her mouth for saying something so stupidly obvious.

"Fuck I suck at this."

"Haha, I don't know kid, I'm just enjoying this to be honest."

Amaya groaned, hands covering her flushed face in shame, even more so when the taller man started laughing.

"You're quite a riot doll," he smirked, positively enjoying teasing the petite teen in front of him.

Amaya looked up, feeling slightly better that this man didn't seem as offended as before. Now that she'd calmed down, she wondered why he'd been so close to her before.

Immediately cautious again, she stepped back, eyes narrowing as she took him in.

This young man didn't seem to care about her change in behavior, instead he placed his hands in his dark blue jacket, smirking at her. It seemed like that smirk was permanently in place and Amaya briefly wondered if that hurt him.

"Ooo are you checking me out doll? I don't mind but you could've just asked," he teased, winking at her blushing face.

Not wanting to let him catch her off guard again with his incessant flirting she crossed her arms defensively and checked her surroundings.

"Look doll I'm sorry for scaring you. The name's Dabi, I was just strolling through the cemetery on my way to see someone when I heard a cute girl humming," he admitted, sounding so confident and unabashed that Amaya couldn't help but blush again.

"He can't be serious, who says stuff like that so easily?"

"This burnt burrito sure likes to sweet talk."

"YAJŪ!"

"Not used to compliments sweetheart? That's a shame, with a pretty face like that," Dabi continued, his eyes shining as he stared at Amaya's rapidly reddening body wanting to see just how red he could make her. Stepping closer he huffed a laugh at her shaky step back.

"D-didn't you say that you were visiting someone, you should go do that," Amaya interrupted hoping that Dabi would take the bait, trying to look anywhere but at him.

She was used to insults from strangers, nothing like this. It didn't help that even with the scars Dabi was quite attractive, and his eyes...

Something about his eyes were very familiar, almost to the point where it comforted her which was weird. Because she was sure she'd never met him before.

She would've definitely remembered meeting him before.

Dabi sighed, nodding, but he merely stayed where he was, staring at Amaya and the stone behind her.

"It's not my business and I won't ask, but that song you were humming, keep humming it. I'm sure that your person is enjoying it just as much as me," he added, for once sounding sincere.

Amaya slowly nodded, still wary of this man named Dabi but his deep voice only made her relax a bit at his words.

Offering him a half smile she turned to face Kou again.

A large hand delicately gripping the back of her neck made her gasp. Dabi pulled her back before leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"I hope we'll see each other again Amaya," he muttered softly before walking away.

Amaya froze, eyes staring at the sky in shock. When she shook herself out of it and looked around for Dabi, the man was completely out of sight.

What just happened?

Wait.

When had she given him her name?

---

After that incident Amaya immediately called Aizawa to pick her up. She didn't mention Dabi solely because she was too confused about what happened to even explain it.

Instead, she explained that she was tired and waited for her guardian as she looked at her twin's stone.

Aizawa didn't say anything, just doing as she asked which Amaya appreciated.

In her time of waiting, she got to say a sincere goodbye to her little brother and one more happy birthday before leaving to enter Aizawa's car.

Aizawa stared at her in concern, so Amaya gave him a small smile to show that she was okay.

Nodding, the older man began driving back home, glancing at the cat-girl every few minutes.

Amaya sighed, staring at the window, now genuinely tired after everything that happened.

"You okay kid?" Aizawa asked, staring straight at the road, yet his attention was fully on the cat-teen next to him.

"I'm okay, just missing Kou I guess. I always miss him, but it just hits more on days like today," Amaya admitted.

Aizawa nodded, understanding and sympathizing with her.

"I'm sure that if he was anything like you, he'd be an amazing student and person," Aizawa complimented, his words honest.

Amaya shakily laughed, tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"No… he'd be better," she whispered, closing her eyes and relaxing in her seat.

---

Arriving home Aizawa carried the sleeping girl to her room, carefully tucking her in.

Gently ruffling her hair, he left her room, leaving her door open as he walked downstairs to get started on lunch.

Making her favorite waffles with strawberries, he received a text halfway through the process from Shinso.

Groaning, he debated whether or not to inform Shinso about Amaya's birthday, not really in the mood to deal with hormonal teenagers but also knowing it would cheer Amaya up if she had a friend over.

Sighing heavily, he texted the brat over to celebrate, hoping he wouldn't regret his decision.

By 1:00 a knock was at Aizawa's door and he suppressed his groan. Walking over and opening the door he merely raised a brow at his twitchy disciple who was looking everywhere but him, probably trying to make eye contact with the girl who was still asleep in her room.

"Shinso," Aizawa muttered, his tired voice enough to snap the young boy's attention back to him.

"Aizawa-sensei, hello. I uhh wanted to thank you for inviting me over, I didn't realize it was Amaya's birthday," Shinso admitted, voice tinged with embarrassment.

Aizawa shrugged, moving to the side to allow the boy to come in.

After an awkward shuffle they both stood there in silence, Aizawa enjoying how the usual stoic boy became nervous in his presence.

After a good few minutes Aizawa decided to take pity on the boy and motioned for him to go upstairs.

Wide-eyed Shinso immediately moved and quietly but quickly ran up the stairs, heading straight for Amaya's room.

Aizawa rolled his eyes at the action.

"Teenagers," he grumbled before going back to check on his food.

Meanwhile, Shinso carefully opened the door so as to not scare the girl only to find that she was fast asleep on her bed.

Shinso crept in, smiling softly at her innocent form. She looked so cute curled up like a cat, her soft breathing and relaxed features making him want to cuddle up next to her.

Laughing lightly, he sat near the edge of her bed and gently brushed one of her locks away from her pale face.

"Kitten it's time to wake up," he whispered, lightly shaking her shoulder, having to resist the urge to kiss the wrinkles that appeared on her head as she grumpily opened her eyes.

Slowly becoming aware of her surroundings Amaya sleepily opened her eyes to see amused indigo ones staring at her.

Fluttering her lashes, she slowly sat up, features morphed into confusion at having Hitoshi in her room.

"Hitoshi?" She grumbled out, a yawn escaping her as she looked at her friend with half-lidded eyes.

Hitoshi gave her a small smile, slowly reaching for her hand, delighted when she didn't flinch, and squeezed it.

"Happy birthday kitten," he whispered, staring at her with so much care and some other emotion that Amaya didn't understand but it made her blush anyways.

"Thank you, Hitoshi," she replied, smiling the brightest she had all day.

Hitoshi laughed and carefully pulled her up, not letting her hand go. Amaya simply squeezed it back, feeling warm all over at her friend's touch.

It had been a while since her friends gave her physical affection which she understood and appreciated because she knew they were doing it out of respect from the Shigaraki incident. Still… she felt a bit deprived now since getting used to her friends' touches that she terribly missed.

While she knew she wasn't completely over the Shigaraki incident she wasn't going to let that ruin her or her wants, and if she wanted her to hold friends' hands she would.

It was her birthday too dammit.

Giggling quietly at her revelation, her tail subconsciously wrapped around Hitoshi's arm, causing both to flush from embarrassment.

But neither let go.

Slowly walking downstairs, knowing they'd have to let go eventually, Hitoshi admired the girl before him.

"Sorry I couldn't get you a present kitten, I hope I can make it up to you," Hitoshi apologized, genuinely upset at his lack of a gift.

Amaya smiled and shook her head, softly rubbing her head on his shoulder.

"This is enough for me, I couldn't have asked for anything better than this," she whispered.

Hitoshi kept his face relaxed and with vulnerable eyes slowly brought his hand to caress her face.

Amaya shuddered, cheeks pink as she raised her gold eyes to meet purple.

"Well, I can give you this much at least," he trailed off, slowly bringing his lips down to meet the soft skin on her warm cheeks.

Amaya quietly gasped, clutching onto Hitoshi tightly, her heart beating wildly.

Hitoshi lifted his head and Amaya felt butterflies in her stomach at seeing his red face and darkening pupils.

He leaned down once more and this time Amaya froze, knowing he wasn't aiming for her cheek.

His lips were getting closer, and Amaya closed her eyes, everything too overwhelming.

Time was slowing down, and she felt Hitoshi's warm breath on her lips.

"Brats, the food is getting cold," Aizawa tiredly shouted, causing both teens to push each other away in shock.

Amaya panted softly, trembling at what almost happened as Hitoshi slowly got his bearings.

He… he was going to kiss me.

Me.

Why?

Flustered and confused Amaya tried to get her thoughts together when a firm hand gently grasped her shoulder.

"Don't overthink it Amaya. I like you. I really like you, and you don't have to respond to my feelings right now. I just wanted you to know that," Hitoshi admitted, his words quiet but honest.

Amaya couldn't help the stutter in her heart or the happiness she felt at hearing that.

But why would he like her?

"Do you like him?"

"I—"

"Let's go eat, your dad will get mad at us," Hitoshi offered, giving Amaya a sweet smile as he led her downstairs.

Amaya nodded; her mind fuzzy throughout dinner as she tried to figure her feelings out for Hitoshi.

She did like him; she wasn't blind to that.

But she couldn't respond to his feelings just yet.

Because she didn't know how she felt for the others that had gotten close to her.

Still, Hitoshi would smile at Amaya every chance he got, his expression so free and genuinely happy that Amaya was left breathless each time.

Every time Aizawa turned away, Hitoshi would squeeze Amaya's thigh giving her a little smirk, thoroughly enjoying her quiet gasps and blushing cheeks.

Hitoshi certainly wasn't being fair to her.

But Amaya would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it.

At the end of the night when she bid him goodbye, he kissed her hand and promised to see her the day she came back from the summer training camp.

Amaya was sure she would never forget this birthday of hers...

She was going to have to do a lot of thinking during the training camp, knowing Hitoshi would be waiting for her answer when she came back.

She honestly didn't know what was going to happen in these next few weeks, but she knew change was coming.

Amaya just hoped she was ready for it.

---

A/N: Wow...first confession done. Heh sorry it's been a while but I finally finished with my semester! One more until I graduate! Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and each character's interactions with Amaya because things are about to get crazy. Thank you for reading, stay safe :)