chapter 11

Shouto walked with Sakura to the end of the residential zone. He would have walked her all the way home but she insisted he let her walk the rest of the way alone. He didn't like it, he wasn't sure what it meant, but he was trying hard to respect her wishes.

If she hadn't proven her hand-to-hand combat skills to him earlier that afternoon, he might have pushed a little harder but as it was, he had to admit, she could probably take care of herself without his help.

"Dinner was nice. Fuyumi is a really good cook." Sakura stopped on the corner of the last street before the industrial district. "I'll have to help her make dinner next time. I'm not as good of a cook as she is, in fact I'm a terrible cook but it isn't fair for her to do all of the cooking."

"She likes it." Shouto watched the wind pick Sakura's short locks up and blow them across her face. "Why do you keep your hair so short? It looks nice, but most girls wear their hair long."

"I'm not a girl, Shouto. I'm an adult." She smiled at him so he would know she wasn't really offended. "It's kind of a long story. Well, maybe not long but hard to explain." She shifted her weight from one foot to another.

"Hn." Shouto made the noise that reminded her of her 'friend' on purpose to watch the reaction in her eyes.

Dark green. Her eyes went dark green when she was thinking of something or someone unpleasant, he noticed. So, it was true. This Sasuke person wasn't a pleasant memory for her. Good.

"Will you tell me?" He moved closer to her. "One day?" His tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip. He watched Sakura's eyes follow the movement. Should he...could he? Would she let him?

"One day, maybe." Sakura looked down to the very small space between them. They were standing too close. He was too close and warm and he smelled of campfires and clean water and…

"See you tomorrow, Sakura." Shouto took one forced step back and away from her.

"Tomorrow?" Sakura blinked. She thought he was going to kiss her but…

"For training. The entrance exam for UA is in three days." He watched her eyes. She had wanted him to kiss her, he could tell. He smiled. He would make her wait, until, she was sure. "Have you made your decision? Are you going to try to get into UA with me?"

She didn't answer him, instead she tilted her head back, and looked up into the darkening sky. A great intake of breath filled her lungs, making her chest rise. He watched as she exhaled, her chest lowering back to normal.

"Yea. I'll take the exam with you. Let's go to UA together, Shouto." She watched his whole body vibrate with energy and realized, he may not have chakra but he did have a very strong life force. She could almost feel his energy, it was so vibrant.

"You won't regret it." Shouto almost smiled at her. "I'll see you tomorrow. Text me when you get home?"

"See you tomorrow. Yeah, I'll text you." She smiled, turned and walked away, down the street turning at the first corner.

Shouto watched her until he couldn't see her anymore, turned and walked back home, a faint smile on his lips. She was going to take the exam with him, they would both be going to UA together. He couldn't remember the last time he had ever been this happy, if he had ever been this happy.

There was no doubt in his mind that either of them would pass the test and he hadn't even seen the full extent of her power quirk yet. From what he had seen of it though, it must be insane. He couldn't wait to see what kind of damage his girlfriend could do. Together, they would be unstoppable, an unstoppable team.

Sakura pushed chakra to her feet and jumped up onto the roof of the next building past the corner she had left Shouto at. Running smoothly and quickly across each rooftop until she came to the last building facing her forest.

Before she could jump down into the trees, she felt it, that sixth sense that she was being watched. Turning slowly, one hand at her side, the other in her pouch pinky finger hooking a kunai, she crouched down and waited.

"How cute." Tomura Shigaraki stepped out of the shadows into her line of sight. "I see I'm not the only friend you've made since you've come here, kunoichi."

"Shigaraki." Sakura straightened her back, shifted her weight over her feet and lowered her center of gravity, waiting for the attack.

"Don't be stupid." He scoffed at her. "I didn't come here to fight you." He was angry and annoyed but he didn't want her to know that.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Why did you follow me here then?"

Tomura raised his arms slowly, his hands stretched out wide before him like a showman. "I'm a stalker remember, it's what stalkers do, they stalk people." His red eyes flashed behind his greasy white hair.

He moved before she could. Like lightning. Shigaraki pinned her up against the side of the roof, leaning his body hard into hers, pressing her up against the side of the rooftop HVAC unit, four of his five fingers pressed up against her throat.

"Why are you playing around with that boy? Why are you wasting your time on this nonsense? Why haven't you come to me, surely you know there is nothing for you with that kid, aren't you bored yet?" He truly didn't understand. It made no sense to him. It was so irritating to see her walking around with that kid like an after school special.

It was disgusting. She belonged to him, it didn't matter if she didn't know it yet or not, it didn't change the inevitable in his mind. It didn't excuse her behavior.

"You're so much better than that. You're a waste on him. I'm not even mad, just, just revolted." Shigaraki tapped the side of her neck with his middle finger. He was lying of course. He was furious, but Master told him to be patient, to be gentle. He was trying, kami he was fucking trying but if she kept pushing him like this, he was going to snap.

Sakura knit her brows together. What he was saying didn't make any sense, it was like he was delusional.

He was speaking like they knew one another, like they had a history together, which they didn't. It wasn't like she had been with him, had allowed him to take her in and then run away. He wasn't her keeper, he wasn't even her friend. He was crazy, he was delusional...he was pressing his fingers into her neck and he needed to stop.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sakura flooded her upper body with her chakra, wrapping it around herself like armor. "Take your hand from my throat and step away from me right now Shigaraki."

Tomura stopped moving, they were so close and she smelled so good. His mistake, but he wasn't going to move. He liked his position.

"All I have to do is lower my pinky finger and your throat will turn to ash and you'll die." He leaned into her again, his mouth on her ear. "Is that what you want?" He closed his eyes and waited.

She growled, a low soft vibration in her chest, making him open his eyes.

"I'm going to hurt you, Shigaraki." Sakura pulled his hand from her throat, twisted his arm up and behind his back, and reached out to wrap her fingers around his other hand.

"No, wait, don't! You'll…" Tomura watched in horror as Sakura's hand wrapped around his hand, all five of his fingers touching hers. "...turn to ash."

"Like hell I will." Sakura grit her teeth against the burn where his fingers touched her skin, her chakra pressing back against her body, trying to escape his damnable quirk. "Just a little more." She gasped as the burning increased.

Picking Shigaraki up over her head, she flooded her arms with chakra and threw him into the building next to the one they were on, made two shadow clones, and ran.

Dazed, Tomura pulled himself up from the rubble. Stumbling slightly, he straightened his back in time to see two replicas of the kunoichi running quickly across the industrial complex, in two different directions.

"I can touch her." A maniacal grin split the dry cracking surface of his face. "I can touch her!" He laughed out loud, a high pitched eerie laugh that rang ominously through the dark empty streets.

"Kurogiri, warp gate!" He was ecstatic. Wild with delight.

"I forgive you, kunoichi." Tomura continued to grin as he stepped into Kurogiri's warp gate. "I forgive your dalliance, because I see now. I see why Master chose you above the others."

"I understand now, Master." Tomura stepped out of the warp gate into the bar. "I understand why you told me to be patient, why she was a perfect match for me, I understand."

"Oh?" All For One watched his protegee stumble excitedly toward the monitor.

"You chose her because you knew, you knew I would be able to touch her without turning her into dust." Tomura wasn't looking at the monitor, he was looking at his hand. The hand Sakura had touched, when she had touched all five of his fingers.

"That is correct Tomura. You see now how special the kunoichi is don't you, why she is the only one who can be your support when I am gone?" All For One hummed his approval through the monitor.

"Yes Master, thank you. Thank you so much Master." Tomura was nearly in tears.

It had been so long, so long since he had been able to touch someone, since he had touched someone. Each time had ended in tragedy. Not one person he touched had survived. He hadn't meant to. He didn't know. It was a nightmare that had followed him for years. Anyone he had ever loved, he had...he had…

...but not anymore, not with her, not with...he realized, he didn't know her name.

"Master." Tomura looked into the monitor.

"Haruno Sakura." All For One anticipated his question. "The kunoichi's name is Haruno Sakura, she is a medic nin from a village called Konohagakure, The Village Hidden in the Leaves, in the Land of Fire, a world far, far away from ours Tomura. There is no one else like her. I have searched for many years, many different worlds, watched several promising candidates but none, none of them compare to her Tomura. Take care of her. She is irreplaceable." All For One closed their connection.

"Irreplaceable." Tomura rubbed his hand with his other hand, careful not to touch himself with all five of his fingers. "Yes, irreplaceable."

Sakura kicked her black bike shorts off, then her underwear, pulled her top off over her head, threw it on top of her skirt and cut the end of her chest wraps. She had to get clean, had to rub the feeling of filth from her skin.

She shuddered thinking of how Shigaraki had rubbed himself up against her. Disgusting.

Sakura understood why, but it didn't mean it was okay just because she understood. Touch starved. Shigaraki was touch starved. Understandable for a man who couldn't touch anyone or anything without turning it to dust, but that didn't mean she wanted him to touch her, or was going to let him touch her like that again.

Sakura knelt naked by the water's edge just inside her cave and splashed water on her face. Slowly, she slid into the river, sighing in relief as the water cooled the burn on her hand where she had grabbed Shigaraki and all five of his fingers.

With a bit of chakra, she began to heal the wound, but found it slow going. "Huh?" She held her hand up out of the water, swam closer to the fire she had started before getting into the river, and studied her hand.

It was still pink and blistered. The pain had faded but the discomfort remained.

"What the heck?" Sakura pushed more and more of her chakra into her burned palm, willing it to heal her wound, but it wasn't working like it should.

The wound was healing, the burns were fading and the blisters were considerably reduced but the injury was still there. She didn't understand. Was there something in Shigaraki's quirk that prevented her chakra from healing wounds inflicted by it?

Perhaps it was because, if she had been anyone else, she wouldn't have a hand anymore, possibly even a body. Would it have spread to the rest of her body, she wondered? If that were the case, this wasn't a normal wound. She had cheated death, again.

"Hum." Sakura laid her head on the floor of her cave, the rest of her body hidden under the dark of the river's surface. "I didn't know quirks were that powerful."

It was then she realized she needed to learn more about these quirks, these super powers. The book she had purchased had touched base on what quirks were, when the first documented quirk manifested and where, but it hadn't gone into great detail about the different kinds of quirks that had surfaced throughout the years.

She needed to find a book on all of the known quirks documented to date. Where would she find something like that? Maybe UA?

Shouto looked down at his phone. Her GPS signal disappeared in the same place it had the night before. Was she turning it off on purpose? Did she know how to do that? He wondered. She hadn't texted him. She said she would text him when she got home.

Her last pinged location was in the back of the Industrial district. That couldn't be right. Why would she live in the industrial district? It's not like there were any abandoned buildings there, all of the buildings in Musutafu's industrial district were occupied. It wasn't run down like some city's industrial zones were.

Shouto expanded the map and froze, his eyes scanning the dark greeny black of the forest just outside of the industrial zone.

"No way. Don't tell me…" Shouto closed the navigation app and pulled up his contacts.

Sakura's phone began to buzz, it was a different buzzing noise than the one she was used to. Drying herself off, she walked over to her pile of clothes and fished her phone out of her pouch.

'Shouto' flashed repeatedly on the screen. Was this a phone call, as he called it?

She hit the small green button like he had told her to do when answering a call and hesitantly said hello. "Hello?"

"You didn't text me to let me know you got home okay." Shouto's voice came through the small rectangle as clearly as it would if he were standing before her. She was amazed.

"Ah, sorry. I had to take a bath when I got home." She patted her hair with her towel, switching the phone to her other ear. It was like he was standing right next to her.

"You took a shower at my house." He was trying very hard not to interrogate her but she was making it rather difficult. Why did she need to bathe again so soon, what had happened on her way home?

"I needed another one." Sakura tapped her foot on the ground, irritated. She understood why he was asking and that it didn't make sense but honestly, it wasn't any of his business. Were all the men in this world as intrusive as this or was it just Shigaraki and Shouto?

"Sakura." Shouto was losing his temper. "That doesn't make sense, you took a shower at my house and…"

"It doesn't have to make sense, Shouto." Sakura snapped. She didn't need this right now. There is no way he could know what just happened to her, she hadn't told him about Shigaraki so it wasn't his fault but seriously, why was he pushing so hard?

Shouto clenched his phone until it cracked. He had to calm down. He hadn't intended to piss her off but he thought they had gotten closer, that she felt the same about him that he felt for her.

"You let me hug you." He told her calmly but firmly. It was time he set things straight. He liked her and he wanted her to know it. "You took my hand today, let me hold yours." He said in a lowered voice.

Sakura's eyes grew hot. "I know but…" She should have expected this.

Shouto swallowed his pride and jumped off the edge of the cliff.

"I like you." He waited. "I was worried about you."

Sakura wrapped her towel around body, tucked the ends under her arms and slumped down on top of her clothes.

"I can't tell you what happened. You told me you wouldn't ask me to give you answers I didn't want to give." She waited but he didn't argue so she continued. "I don't want to answer that Shouto."

"Okay." What else could he say? "Okay, you're right. I did say that, but I'm not going to stop asking questions. You don't have to answer them if you don't want to or can't, but I'm going to keep asking, because I care."

"Okay." Sakura nodded her head even though he couldn't see her. That was fair.

"I have another question." Shouto gripped his phone hard. He had no idea how she was going to react to his next question. "Are you living in the woods behind the industrial district?"

Sakura's head snapped to the entrance of her cave. How foolish of her, of course he wasn't there. First Shigaraki and now Shouto. How the hell were they finding her? How did they know where she was if they couldn't detect chakra? She had her seals up, she had protection jutsu up and…

She remembered the navigation 'app' on her phone.

"It's the phone." She was so stupid. "You tracked me with the phone you gave me. Is that why you gave it to me? To stalk me?"

"Stalk you? No, of course not." He wasn't like that other guy. He cared about her. She was comparing him to some creep?

"How do you know where I am then?" She countered.

"You didn't text me so I got worried. The phone has GPS on it but the signal disappeared at the edge of the woods. I thought something might have happened to you." He told her the truth. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm not stalking you." He added. "I don't have to." He pointed out.

He was right. "Sorry Shouto, I didn't mean it like that, I guess I'm still a little riled up over what happened after I left you."

He wasn't Shigaraki. She had lost her temper.

"It's okay." Shouto sat down on the edge of his bed, forcing himself not to ask her what had happened. She didn't sound like she was hurt. She was clearly upset but…

"So, the woods, you're camping in the woods, aren't you?" He didn't want to start another argument with her but he needed to know.

"Yeah." She sighed. He knew, there was no point in keeping it from him now.

"Are you...is it comfortable there? I mean, do you need anything?" He asked her.

Guilt flooded her chest. She had snapped at him and all he was, was worried about her and her comfort. She felt terrible. "Yeah, I like camping in the forest. I have everything I need. Really. I'm happy here."

He wanted to tell her he was coming to get her. He wanted to argue that it wasn't safe for her there, that she could come live with him and Fuyumi but he didn't, he wouldn't. He had to give her this, he knew that. He wouldn't win this one with her. He was learning her and he knew she wouldn't give in to him on this.

"Good. I'm glad." Hollow words, and they both knew it. Shouto laid down on his bed. "So tomorrow? I'll see you after school for training?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I can meet you at your house if you want." She offered.

"Okay, sounds good." Shouto closed his eyes.

"Okay." Sakura swallowed. "Thanks for worrying about me Shouto."

Her voice was soft in his ear. I forgive you, he told her in his head. "You're worth it, Sakura." He told her through his phone. Tomorrow, he would see her tomorrow. It would be okay, he just needed to calm down, to let her have this. He could do that. He could do this.

"Oyasumi Sakura." Shouto whispered into his phone.

"Oyasumi." Her voice soft and clear came back through the phone to him, making his heart skip and his face flush.