Dedicated to a dear friend (you know who you are) that kept pushing me to publish this.
Notes: all current chapters were edited to make them more presentable. Future chapters will follow the same format. Added missing notes (Feb. 9th, 2022).
Also, content warning has been moved here: Mentions of blood and gore; mentions of suicide; intimacy. Nothing too explicit.
Notes 2: This chapter has been updated as of March 19th, 2022. Mostly just some small adjustments to formatting and grammar.
The blood-crazed girl
Her head was buzzing, dark clouds obscured her thoughts and her lungs burned due to lack of air. But then there was a shift and her world cleared up again. At least, it seemed, her head was freed and nostrils unobstructed.
And Himiko Toga took a desperately-needed breath after what felt like ages.
She could only assume that the sludge bastard currently holding her and that explosive blonde in its clutches was attacked by a hero and got distracted, easing his hold on them. That would explain the shift she felt. The villain had let go just barely enough so his hostages' upper body could see the light of day again, their chests not as constricted as they had been, allowing both to breathe normally for the time being; though there wasn't enough freedom of movement to allow either of his captives to even attempt to free themselves.
Not that either her or the boy had much energy left, with how exhausted they felt after struggling for so long. Even so, Himiko used this brief moment of respite to collect her thoughts, in spite of her current predicament.
Nothing she had tried so far to hurt the sludge villain and break free had worked and, considering how viscous and fluid his body was – 'Disgusting,' she thought repeatedly –, there was no doubt in her mind that the knife hidden on her ill-kept school attire would go through him without a hint of damage, not that she could reach it even if she tried. Not only were her movements almost completely restricted, but her hands were also fully occupied trying to prevent any of that foul liquid from covering her nose again, incapable of doing much else.
Himiko had to begrudgingly conclude that the only course of action she could take as things stood was to try and delay her own death by asphyxiation for as long as humanly possible. That and hope that she would be saved, somehow. Though her odds were not looking up.
Beside her, the other hostage wasn't faring much better. The teenage-boy named Bakugo also dedicated all his concentration towards breathing, mimicking her movements in trying to keep the icky liquid at bay, to no avail. He had tried to use his quirk at first, but not even his explosions could leave a mark on the villain's slithery body and at this point the boy couldn't even be sure not to hurt himself if he tried to use his quirk again.
Their hands were, literally and figuratively, tied.
With no way out of this situation using their own abilities and with the heroes in the scene seemingly unable to fight back or even formulate a rescue plan, it was clear it wouldn't take long before Himiko and Bakugo were choking and gasping for air once more. They were running out of breath and time.
With a growing sense of dread, Himiko had to admit to herself that this was most likely the end to her short but eventful life.
How had it come to this? Himiko returned her thoughts to what felt like ages ago, but could not be more than a few minutes earlier. To how she was having another boring day when everything suddenly spiraled into chaos.
_/ - \_
After a leisurely walk through an arcade, where she had spent a huge chunk of her day scouting for potential love interests, an annoyed Himiko decided to retire for the afternoon.
"So many people and not a single one were interesting in the slightest. Kind of impressive, really, that a place that big managed to be filled to the brim with the blandest guys I have seen in a long time. Not even any of the girls there looked appealing! I doubt the blood of any of them would look or taste good. What a waste of time..." she ranted aloud, not caring if anyone heard.
Despite her downtrodden appearance, she doubted any passersby would suspect something if they were to pay close attention to her musings, probably chalking it up to some weird teen hormone-fueled rant or a bout of still present "chuunibyou syndrome" quirkiness. She did have the age and appearance of a mere teenage student, after all.
Ever since vanishing without a trace in her last middle-school year, Himiko quickly learned that if she kept presenting herself as an unsuspecting schoolgirl people tended to treat her just a tad better, a constant reminder of how the current society as it were would never accept someone that led a life such as hers.
They couldn't even accept a quirk like hers, as if she could control and choose the power she was born with! The years she had to endure pretending to be someone she was not, pretending to be "normal", whatever that meant. Being a sham, a fake…!
But, that was then, and this is now. She was finally free to do whatever she wanted whenever she felt like it. Like a robin, seeing an infinite blue sky and instinctively spreading its wings after fleeing a cage in which it was kept its whole life. Not sure of where to go, given the many possibilities.
And yet, she had a figure to maintain, since attracting attention would not help her protect that freedom. So she kept using the same mask from before her awakening and, like so, made sure to keep the pretense whenever she was out in public. It helped that her small stature and cute expression made for the perfect deception, hiding an acrobatic, practiced knife-wielding villain below a facade of innocence.
For all intents and purposes, she was the perfect image of a cute and bashful schoolgirl; before anyone got too close to know her, that is. The real her.
The normal her.
Himiko's ordinary image made it all the easier to attract a vast assortment of people, from boys and girls around her age to adults, though in the latter's case, perverts most of the time. It didn't make a difference to her, really. Blood fascinated her, no matter the source. Just as long as they interested her, she wanted to have a taste.
'Though I have to admit it's been a while since I last felt like I fell in love with someone.'
Walking along a sidewalk, decided to bury the irritation she was feeling after a day of futile busywork, Himiko turned her thoughts to more pleasurable ones. Namely, the recently acquired prey, a young man in his early twenties.
She fantasized about how she would drain his blood, marveling at the waterfalls of crimson liquid brought forth by her handiwork, leaving to herself just enough to fill a cup. It wouldn't amount to much, but it would quench her thirst for a few days, not to mention that a fresh disguise always came in handy. And with no other targets currently in her sight, it would have to do.
Of course, even better if she got the flavor just right.
During the past few years in which Himiko allowed herself to indulge in her desires, living mostly free from the judging eyes of a hypocritical and moralistic society, she soon discovered - to her delight - that the taste of a person's blood varied greatly, their emotional state being the determining factor. As such, she found great enjoyment in carefully manipulating a person's emotions before extracting their blood, if only because she loved to pretend to be a fancy blood connoisseur. The more vibrant she could make it, the better.
She always shuddered at the thought of seeing blood pouring out of the numerous cuts her trained hands would meticulously inflict on her prey's flesh: watching as the dark-red fluid would flow down their skin, staining their clothes and splashing across the concrete. How she intently observes her prey's eyes as they slowly lose their shine, unable to do anything but helplessly watch in horror as their life essence flees their veins with haste.
And then, when everything would be said and done, a fresh disguise, a new skin, a new her would emerge. After all, was it possible to be any closer to a person other than taking up their appearance? Himiko didn't believe so.
Not that the poor young man knew what exactly she had planned, of course. He was left gagged and tied up inside an abandoned subterranean parking lot, unable to move or cry for help. And all it took to restrain the pervy idiot was to offer him her "services" and lead him to his current location, though she had failed to specify what exactly was her specialty.
But that was unusual. She had never pretended to be an escort before, but Himiko was feeling particularly devious today. For a while now she had been trying to pursue that feeling, that same rush she felt the very first time her tongue tasted blood after years of abstinence. No one's blood since then had tasted as divine as Saito's did, and while that didn't bother her at first, it was starting to weigh on Himiko's mind. Even though she was free, the pleasure extracted from her escapades seemed to wane with each new victim.
She felt that something was missing, but could not pinpoint exactly what it was. So she thought a step-up was needed, a reinvention of sorts, and decided to experiment. Anything that could give that injection of energy she had been missing. New tactics to attract others seemed as good an idea as any other.
Though she had to admit that making a sculpture of her affections sounded fun, even if that wouldn't help her recapture that original rush. A work of art to rival the ancients, marble painted red, the corpse being left behind to be found later resembling a macabre ritual.
"What was it they were calling it? 'Blood-loss murder incidents' or whatever? They could afford to be a little more creative… Hopefully my attempt at a work of art spices up those stories!"
Ah! The thrills she would feel, the sights she would spy, the banquet she would taste! She couldn't wait to return to his side.
Distracted by her own delusions, Himiko didn't notice right away when she entered a shopping district. Normally she would avoid a place such as this, too crowded and with no easy escape route, and when she came to, the ashen-blonde made to turn back. But looking up at a street sign, she realized it actually was a shortcut to the parking lot, the market cutting through a long block which she would have to otherwise walk all the way around.
Deciding to take her chances, Himiko kept going and once again started fantasizing about the composition of her soon-to-be masterpiece.
However, her daydreams came to a screeching halt when, right after turning a corner and entering an alleyway, leaving the busy shopping district behind, she felt something hit her square on the nose.
"Ow! What the hell?"
Nursing her aching nose and looking down, she saw rolling on the floor away from her a plastic bottle that contained a strange-looking dark-green liquid. Angry, she picked it up and threw it behind her, the object making a loud thud as it hit a lamppost and fell to the ground, its lid coming off.
Turning back around, she saw the culprit: a blond boy around her age staring back at her, with red eyes and what looked like a permanent scowl etched on his face, one of his feet still suspended in the air. It was obvious to anyone watching that he was the one that had kicked the bottle. Worst of all, he didn't look apologetic in the slightest.
With annoyance filling her mind once more, Himiko pondered if she had encountered her next target and said with a glare of her own:
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, idiot? Watch where you kick shit around!"
The boy's eyes shone with anger and indignation before he replied in an even louder tone, "Hah!? You were obviously in the way, bitch! You're the one that should pay attention to your surroundings, you fucking moron!"
"Excuse me?!", Himiko's grimace was quickly turning vicious.
"You fucking heard me the first time! Don't make me repeat myself!" he loudly replied without hesitation.
"You're not even going to say 'sorry', asshole? Will I have to tear an apology out of your ass?" she retorted, getting angrier by the second.
"I won't apologize for shit, you bitch. And what's that? Little Kitty there gonna try and hit me?" He roared with mocking laughter. "I'd like to see you try!"
At that she saw small explosions crack in the air encircling his palms as he took a fighting stance, a shit-eating grin adorning his features.
"I'll kill you!"
'An explosive quirk, huh? And given his cocky stance, he probably believes he's the top shit. Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard.' she analyzed.
Himiko couldn't keep from cracking a sneer of her own, one of her hands gravitating towards the blade she kept on her waistband, concealed under her two-sizes-too-big school sweater. She had a surprise in store for the asshole.
'I bet he's the type to go for a killing blow from the start. Won't work if I cut you first!'
Confident in her abilities, Himiko was sure she could take him down swiftly and quietly, without attracting any unwanted attention from the people passing by the street market.
'He's definitely my next target. ' she thought in cold amusement.
Seeing movement behind him, Himiko finally noticed two other teenage boys who had seemingly watched this whole exchange in silence, 'His minions, if I had to guess. Damn, have to rethink my strategy.' the girl mused.
One of them turned to the blond pile of anger:
"Just leave her be, Bakugo! It wouldn't do you any good to beat little girls on the street. Besides, weren't you just scolding us about how you need to keep your record clean or whatever if you are to enroll in U.A.?" said the one with long fingers.
"Yeah! She's not worth your time! As if such a frail-looking thing could even leave a scratch on you anyway." the other added, chuckling a little.
'Ok, scratch that last thought. I'll definitely make all three of them bleed and have the time of my life.' thought a Himiko who at this point showed only a deadpan expression, eyes slightly squinted, but was absolutely livid.
Himiko and the boy she now knew was named Bakugo stared each other down, both preparing to strike. However, before either of them even tried to move, they heard what sounded like running water coming from the market behind them, accompanied by a shadow that suddenly covered the alleyway. Turning her head, the blonde saw in astonishment what looked like an amorphous blob of liquid staring back at them with big, bright yellow eyes.
The thing smirked before descending upon them without warning. Being closer to the creature, she hadn't had time to react and was quickly captured while Bakugo, despite reacting swiftly and hitting the monster full-on with an explosion, watched in shock as nothing happened to it, being engulfed as well.
Following that, in the ensuing mayhem, Himiko barely heard the sounds of several footsteps quickly moving away from the scene, echoing around the alley, tailed by panicked screams. Though she couldn't see, she didn't need to to know that the asshole's friends had fled in panic, abandoning both of them to their doom.
Himiko easily accepted the reality of someone like her being cast aside - it wasn't the first time -, though the fact this Bakugo boy had also been left behind, by his so-called friends, nonetheless, baffled her. Or rather, it would have left her perplexed if not by the tiny detail that this only served as yet another reminder that this society brimming with heroes was in actuality rotten to the core.
A world where each and every person, even those that swore to protect others, only ever looked out for themselves. A world where people like her would always be shunned, all because she committed the "crime" of being born with the "wrong" quirk.
In the end, wasn't the fact that her parents shamed and abused her for her quirk, something completely out of her control, the reason she turned out this way? Why did they never take responsibility for a power that obviously was inherited by her? And wasn't the repression of her natural attraction to blood the main driving force behind her rampaging desires? Didn't she force herself to comply and pretend she was someone else, despite knowing it would only hurt her? Didn't her family forsake her at the first available opportunity, completely ungrateful to the pain and humiliation she had to endure?
Then the creature spoke, pulling her from painful memories best left unattended.
"I should be mad at both of you for kicking and throwing me around, but I guess I can't complain. This must be my lucky day after all!", the sludge monster exclaimed, "Not only did I somehow escape All Might, I found new and promising disguises! One who seems to possess an amazing quirk and the other with such a cute, petite figure! I bet I could make a lot of money 'selling your body', my dear!" said the villain, laughing to himself.
Upon hearing that, Himiko felt a strong nauseous feeling settle in her stomach. Flashes of her body being abused inadvertently wormed their way into her thoughts. Did he plan to sell her as a sex slave? But the villain had used the word 'disguise'. Did this mean he would take full control of her body? What about her mind? Would she be dead or would a glimmer of conscious thought remain by the time he did whatever he was going to do?
The thought of being aware, but completely powerless to impede any deranged action the villain could conjure shook Himiko to her core.
However, taking in those words only made her furious and more determined to break out. She wasn't going to let what the sludge monster had said come to fruition. She didn't survive all this time in the streets by herself, trying to live freely in spite of a cruel and uncaring world, avoiding the authorities and other criminals alike, to just die in a random alleyway as if she were nothing. She wouldn't allow it.
She couldn't allow it.
So the ashen-blonde girl first tried biting the sludge villain, but quickly regretted her action, as her only accomplishment was having an awful taste spread across her tongue. Then she started kicking and punching in an attempt to break her limbs free, but the viscosity severely limited her range of movement. No success on that front either. In response, the monster started to constrict all around her and put pressure on her throat, making breathing difficult.
Next, she thought about transforming, but quickly gave up on that idea. It wasn't as if she would suddenly gain the ability to use her victim's quirks, and even if she could, the fact that the asshole's explosions didn't have any effect discouraged her to try anything of the sort. Ultimately, she knew her limits.
With seemingly no options left, Himiko had felt frozen in time, unable to free herself and growing increasingly desperate by the second. Gone was the raging fury, replaced with an emotion that she hadn't felt in forever, quickly making its way to the forefront of her conscience: fear. How ironic that a feeling Himiko had become a master at evoking on others was the very same that almost immediately reached her heart and held it in a firm, cold and venomous grip.
Himiko uselessly clawed at her captor.
"Now, now, don't struggle. Once I decide which one of you shall be my next disguise, it will be all over in seconds. You won't even feel anything! This shouldn't take too long." the villain said, amused.
_/ - \_
'Oh yeah, the bottle. The villain must have been trapped inside, for some reason. Well, he did mention All Might, so that must have been who sealed him in the first place. That means I'll die and it will be the fault of this fucking blonde asshole next to me! … But the lid came off after I threw it on a lamppost, so maybe–… No, this idiot is the one that kicked the bottle in the first place, and that useless All Might let him go and– oh fuck I can't breathe I can't breatHE I CANT BREATHE!'
Himiko's inner monologue was violently silenced as the brief moment of solace ended, the villain managing to fend off whatever had bothered him and strengthening his hold once again.
'This is taking too long. I never thought so many heroes would show up at once. Maybe if I kill one of these kids right now and throw the body at someone it will be enough of a distraction to allow me to flee with a fresh disguise,' the sludge villain pondered while eyeing the pro heroes he was currently stuck in a stalemate with. Looking down at his two captives, he quickly came to a decision.
"At the end of the day, I guess it's best to just pick the one with the powerful quirk after all. I've made up my mind. Sorry, little girl, but you won't have the honor of serving as my invisibility cloak. Hush, now.", the sludge monster expressed while enveloping Himiko with renewed force. Soon, her whole body would be engulfed, only to be discarded afterwards, lifeless, as bait to distract the heroes.
Unwittingly resigned to her fate, Himiko gave a last desperate look at nowhere in particular, noticing something shining amidst the terrified crowd that was watching her death unfold. It was her final act of defiance, to stare at the world that hated her right before her vision clouded completely, her head now fully inside the monster. Himiko hoped that whomever saw her, would remember the sight of a girl that wanted to be free above all else.
As she began to lose consciousness, Himiko's thoughts drifted to the last thing she believed she saw: a pair of emerald orbs.
'I don't know what that was, but it was a nice shade of green,' she thought, her lips slightly curving upwards.
But then, a commotion caught the attention of her soon-to-be murderer and made him turn towards it, causing a part of his body to move and free some of her face, enough for Himiko to manage to take a sharp inhale and listen to the heroes shouting at someone.
"What is that kid doing?"
"Idiot! Stop! You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"Is he suicidal?!"
"That brat…" the sludge villain uttered in complete disbelief.
"Deku…", Bakugo added.
However, as her eyes were still covered by the villain's fluid body, Himiko couldn't see what was happening. Only when the villain suddenly flinched back did her eyes see light again by virtue of more of the creature's body moving away from her. Apparently, his eyes were hit with… did a notebook and some pencils just fly by her face? What?
With the sludge monster loosening his grip on his hostages yet again, Himiko managed to tear the rest of her head out of the villain's body and gasp for air unimpeded. Then, she immediately shifted her gaze towards the person helping her.
She saw a teenage boy, probably also around her age, wearing the same school uniform as the explosive moron, with dark-greenish hair resembling a mop and freckles on his cheeks. He was looking at her and Bakugo with what she assumed to be the worst attempt at a reassuring smile she had ever seen, a smile that betrayed the absolute fear he was experiencing. And it was amazing.
She felt the world stop in its tracks once again, but this time by pure bewilderment instead of fear and hopelessness. She had never seen such compassion and worry in someone's eyes, and to think that look was directed at her. This boy came to save her, putting his life on the line even though they didn't know each other.
'His eyes… are green…'
Bakugo said something unintelligible beside Himiko, but she had tuned him out, as her complete focus rested on the newcomer's gentle features. The green-eyed boy spoke, looking pointedly at her, still smiling and with tears trailing his cheeks, and those words would remain ingrained on Himiko's mind for the rest of her life:
"You looked like you were asking for help!"
Notes: I don't know how I neglected this for so long, so apologies. But, here it goes. "Chuunibyou" is commonly translated as "Second-year syndrome", as in the second year of the japanese middle-school. I'm not sure how that would translate directly to other school systems, but according to a source in Wikipedia, it would be "Eight-grader syndrome" for the US.
In any case, "chuunibyou" is slang for a person that has convinced themselves that they have special powers or that they are a character from a work of fiction, and behaves accordingly. Something more extreme then the "Naruto run" kids that most of us probably saw back in school. In this context, a person hearing Himiko's deranged ramblings could interpret them as her thinking that she is a vampire or some such, instead of believing they heard the thoughts of an actual murderer.