Three fucking months had past since I had last seen Deku, or his piece of shit brother and it was pissing me off majorly, but I was at least doing something about it.

With the support of my parents, which had been a very heated argument over an already awkward dinner at home, I had gotten the school to accept my leave of absence with several of their own conditions.

One. I take the full hero license exam along with the third year students to prove that I was capable of independent hero work.

Two. That I at least team up with someone reliable and that the school trusted to work with, so, so much for the working independently part.

And three. That I make up for whatever classwork I miss in my own time or accept being held back a year if I take too long to find and bring back stupid Deku. That part ticked me off, but I agreed to it knowing that I wouldn't be alone if that happened. If I missed so much school that I was held back a year, Deku would be too so at least I could take out all of those frustrations on him.

Although my parents had seen my reasoning to go after and bring back the nerd they had agreed to it largely because they worried for him too, especially after the news of his mum's death. Despite our broken relationship, my mum had always stayed close to Deku's, and my parents wanted to know he was safe and so they had agreed to talk to the school about me taking time off.

All Might had been against the idea from the start, so I gave him the cold shoulder whenever he tried to reach out to me. Deku was his damn successor and if he wasn't going to put in the effort to find him, well it felt like he didn't really give a shit after all, and I had shouted as much to him in private. I knew it wasn't true though. I knew All Might wanted to go looking for Deku, but he was practically powerless now and had to keep his job as a teacher and I knew he was helping in his own way to track down Deku, though there clearly wasn't much success there.

Mr. Aizawa and the principle had both sat fairly neutral throughout the discussion with my parents as they pushed to let me go and the principal decided on the conditions.

"If you don't let him do this officially, chances are the brat will just run off on his own" my mum had rolled her eyes as she told the teachers and principle as her and dad convinced them, and she hadn't been wrong. Me not wanting to risk being expelled from U.A was the only thing that had made me go about this in a more rational way, but it made things infuriatingly slow.

I had thought of the idea and visited my parents to make my case the first Saturday after Deku's brother had gotten away. I had stayed at home that night and my parents had come back to school with me Sunday morning to make my case and despite my constant glaring expression, I was grateful for them and would have to make it up to them someday. If things hadn't worked out this way. I wouldn't have come back to school on the Monday at all.

As part of the deal, I first had to do some extra training with the third year hero course students who had shot me plenty of dirty looks while I studied them work and joined in on exercises when I could and Mr. Aizawa had volunteered to do private theory lessons on the weekends with me to get me up to par with the third years and all of that on top of our everyday classes, it was rough, even for me, but I was stubborn as hell and determined to get this done in time.

Two months after Deku's disappearance they held the final hero exam for the third years who felt ready to take it, or were retaking it and I passed, if only barely on my first try, which was a massive boost and relief. If I had failed. It would have been another six months before the next exam was open.

Mr. Aizawa had accompanied me for the exam which reminded me a lot of our probationary hero license exams where they threw random challenges our way to overcome and were disqualified after a single mistake. I had learnt from our own year's exam that keeping a cool head was an important step for me to focus on to not fail for exploding at someone and there was a written test on quirk and hero related laws that required a score of at least ninety to pass.

The whole class had learnt about what I was doing with all the extra classes I was taking a time spent with the third years, a couple of them growing more accepting towards me over the course of the two months before the exam, and my own class had thrown a damn party for me when I had returned to the dorms that night, although I wasn't feeling up for it. I hadn't wanted or expected a damn party. Yes, I was amazing and had surpassed them all by gaining my full hero license, something they were still years away from, but I hadn't done it for myself, and their cheerfulness only made my mood more sour.

Pink Cheeks had returned to the dorms and classes a fortnight after Deku left. The entire class, if not the whole school, knew what had happened even if the details were not known and it took her several weeks before she seemed comfortable at school again and back to her usual self. Racoon Eyes practically stuck to her like glue, and she had since been told that it wasn't Deku who had attacked her though I had no idea if that actually made her feel any better or not and I wasn't about to stop her and ask when I was so busy.

Some of my other classmates were annoyed at me for deciding to go off after Deku on my own. Icy Hot and Shitty Hair being the main two there and I got plenty of sideways glances from them, though Shitty Hair calmed down after a week explaining that he only felt left out and would have offered to help if I had only told him about my plans. I couldn't blame him there, but I didn't apologize either.

Part two of the agreement after I got my full license was to be teamed up with someone the school deemed worthy and I had expected some asshole pro hero or some of the third years who had passed the exam with me, but instead the principle and All Might set me up with Tsukauchi and Gran Torino, who I had heard of before from Deku after our week long work studies. I knew nothing about the small old grumpy looking man other than Deku had trained under him.

All Might explained that Tsukauchi had been leading an independent search for Deku and his brother as other police weren't trusted by the school after they had proclaimed Deku a fugitive along with the news. On the plus side, if any police or heroes spotted him or his brother they would at least catch or report them, but nothing had come up yet and the principal had found the whole news reporting event to be suspicious.

And so I packed a bag with only the necessities and left school with the detective and the old hero to find the nerd and bring him home and to take down his psycho brother.

According to the detective Deku's last known sighting was two months ago at the sight of the explosion that had killed his mum, or at least that was the official report. Tsukauchi let me in on some extra details such as Deku's mum's official time of death being several days before the explosion and that the explosion had been a trap set for Deku. They knew he had survived the explosion because street footage had picked him up several towns over days later and from the site around the explosion and blood found they determined he had been in some sort of altercation which fitted his condition on the footage. While the detective drove us the old hero handed me back a tablet with footage on it of Deku's last known sighting. The footage was poor and pixelated, but I could see it was him and he was injured bad enough to be dragging a leg behind him and his shoulders were slumped from exhaustion.

"You said this was from almost two months ago?" I spoke up from the back with a frown, handing the tablet back to the front.

"Yes," replied Tsukauchi without taking his eyes off the road, "we did some independent investigating up north and from witnesses discovered that he was last sighted the day after that footage was captured ducking into an alleyway. There had been no evidence of him since then. The local police had also seen him prior to that and tried to catch him when he ran. His leg hadn't been so bad at that point so he got away. It's unknown what has happened to him since then" spoke the detective.

"Where at?" I asked from the back.

"He was last seen in Sapporo" he replied.

I sat back in my seat with my brows furrowed. Sapporo was one of the biggest cities up north and if there had been no sighting of him since then, well, it made my gut feel heavy.

"It's a large city but majority of our search team will be up there with us, though we can't rely on the assistance of any of the heroes or police up there. As far as we know Midoriya is already avoiding them" went on the detective.

"That's a lot of area to cover" I glared back through the mirror, "so what, you just expect everyone to split up and watch the streets?" I scoffed, "he could have moved on from there"

"True he could have," spoke up the old man from the passenger seat, "or worse. That boy could have gotten himself into worse trouble," he grumbled, "either way it's our best place to start and we have some connections up there that we trust enough to ask for help in neighboring towns" I frowned.

"How many are there in this team of yours anyway?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Including you, fourteen but only two thirds of our team will be up there with us" I practically flinched at the damn detectives words. How the hell did he expect to search a city that big, "the remaining part of the team will be staying back near U.A to work on tracking down Midoriya's brother to help clear his name"

"You expect to search a damn city with so few people!" I spat back with irritation.

"We have our ways young'un" grumbled back the old man and I leaned back again with a scowl as Tsukauchi drove us to the airport.

It was a two hour flight from our nearest airport to Sapporo. The city itself wasn't as large as Tokyo and some other cities I had visited, but it was tight with countryside, forests and mountains off to one side and sprawling suburbs on the other. Either way the detective was out of his mind to think we could find a single scrawny injured teenager among all of this with less than ten people to help.

I was set up in a hotel room with separate beds on the same floor as the rest of the police team. Everyone shared a room in pairs, and I was told I was sharing with a cat police officer which I wasn't thrilled about but didn't openly complain.

The hotel was situated in the center of the city and even though the sun was just beginning to set I was out again with Tsukauchi and the grandpa before we had even unpacked. I had brought my hero costume with me, but for now I wore casual clothes as we visited the local police headquarters and I scowled. So much for not being able to ask local police for assistance my ass. I rolled my eyes as I shuffled along behind them with my hands stuffed in my pockets. Entering the police precinct hadn't been a problem once Tsukauchi had introduced himself and flashed a badge, but the deeper we got the grandpa and myself had to flash our hero licenses too. Honestly I could have come here with them on my probationary license and still have been alright. I grumbled with annoyance feeling that the school had just wasted my damn time.

We were escorted into a windowless room with a table and seats in the center and wall to wall shelves of police files. The cat faced police officer, Sansa, was already there flicking through a pile of files when he glanced up at us and stood at attention until Tsukauchi dismissed him. Turns out that members of the team had been in the city since Deku had been sighted here and had been searching for him on the streets and checking files at each police station they came across to see if any reports matched the nerd.

"Anything new?" asked Tsukauchi as he pulled a seat out to sit at the table and pulled a small pile of files towards him. He indicated for Gran Torino and me to sit and do the same.

"I've gathered all new reports of vigilantism and acts of heroism in the police precincts area to search through. So far nothing stands out" replied the cat as he sat again. He offered me a polite nod in greeting before returning to flicking through the files in front of him. I stared down at my own pile.

"What's the point of this?" I grumbled as I opened the first file.

"Midoriya is the heroic type at heart," replied gramps, "if he is in the area there's a chance that he could still be acting to help others in the area and if so the police may have reported on it"

"You think he'd be playing hero when last you saw him he was dragging his leg behind him like a shot deer" I scoffed.

"It's possible he may have received medical help from someone" offered Tsukauchi without looking up from his reading, "there have been no further sightings of him, and no one has called concerned about a limping teen so it's possible someone may have taken him in and cared for him"

"There has been no sightings of him at any of the hospitals or local medical clinics in the area" added Sansa, looking up, "nor in the surrounding towns"

"He could have been captured" I narrowed my eyes.

"Or he could be dead if you want to keep thinking down that road" added the grandpa with a grumpy tone. I shot him a glare, but he took no notice as he read. Tsukauchi sighed at the old man's attitude.

"Either way, most of the police and heroes are fairly familiar with any active vigilantes in their local areas so any new or unknown vigilantes or someone who did a heroic act and chose to leave the scene or hide their identity could potentially be a lead if Midoriya happened to be involved in any of the incidents" explained Tsukauchi calmly, finally putting his file down to look to me from across the table.

"Our team has been checking files like this across the city as well as checking hospital security footage and asking staff at medical centers for any sign of Midoriya and doing the same in neighboring towns. We have some connections up here too which are also doing the same in their own districts" he added, and I grumbled and looked down at my own files. I guessed police work was more grueling that I had thought and got to reading through my stack.

Weeks went by with nothing coming up. I accompanied Tsukauchi or Sansa as we visited different police precincts to read through their files which was the most boring thing ever. Asked around local hero agencies about any vigilante activity and scoured the streets at night. Any criminals or villains we came across we asked about who they were after, if anyone, before handing them over to the police. Gran Torino, who made a point of working independently because even I couldn't keep up with his speed, did capture a villain at one point who had admitted to be hunting for Deku, but the villain was having as much luck as we were and when we got nothing more out of him other than he was just a paid mercenary, off the police he went. It seemed like even the bad people after Deku had no idea where he was which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good they hadn't found him, where ever the fuck he was and bad because it would have been easier if they did know where he was. If even the underground world had no clue, I wasn't feeling very positive.

Weeks and nothing and the four of us were back to reading files overnight in a northern precinct. I groaned and stretched my back in the chair. It was past eleven at night, well past my usual bed time and my eyes were starting to ache from hours of reading boring paperwork. This was worse than school and with still no sign of Deku since that security footage my stomach was starting to feel sour as the weeks went by. Anything could have happened to the nerd and not knowing made me uneasy.

"Here's the latest lot fitting your search" offered an officer from the precinct as he placed a cardboard filing box on the tabled between Sansa and I before leaving. I let out a long irritated sigh while Sansa dove into the new files and Tsukauchi thanked the officer. The old man was snoring away in his seat beside the detective, and I glared at him, but no one else paid the sleeping hero any notice. Another forty minutes of nothing but snoring and paper turning went by when Sansa shot to his feet, and we all turned to him. Even the snoring stopped.

"I've got something!" he announced excitedly with twitching whiskers and slid the file across to Tsukauchi. I wanted to snatch it away for myself to see. I didn't want to wait another second when Tsukauchi scanned it over and read the important parts out, summing it up.

"An elementary school kid was saved from a possible car accident," his eyes still skimmed the papers, "the child was picked up by a passerby and saved from an oncoming vehicle. The savior left after the incident and both the child and driver said the savior had moved too fast to see but," he took a deep breath and his mouth smiled ever so slightly, "they both described seeing a flash of green light when the savior swooped in" he lowered the file to look at us all. I was standing and gaping, Gran Torino narrowed his eyes and Sansa was standing with a wide smile.

"That sounds like him" grumbled the old man and got off his seat, "right, where too?" he asked.

Several more days went by of the team narrowing their search efforts to a single district where the incident had taken place only a week before. Everyone, myself included wore casual clothes, not wanting to stand out at all or as Tsukauchi said, seeing police might scare Deku away. The same argument could be said that if Gran Torino and I were in our hero gear Deku might approach us if he was in the area, but Tsukauchi turned the idea down. If any villains in the area were looking for him, they would be watching us just as much.

Regardless I still used my quirk to get me from the streets to the rooftops so I could crouch and watch from above. Walking the streets aimlessly was tiresome and boring. I was on my own, as was everyone else, choosing to give up working in pairs to cover more area to search, taking day and night shifts so someone was always watching the streets. Being a morning person, I opted for the day shifts to better suit my usual sleep schedule. I perched on the edge of the rooftop, watching people pass in the street below, my stomach reminding me that I hadn't eaten lunch yet.

"Izuki!" I heard a woman call and the name had been so close to Izuku that I immediately sat up, but then relaxed again when I realized it wasn't the same name. Plus it would be stupid of Deku to be roaming around using his actual fucking name. I watched a young woman with black hair across the street wave to the other side and I looked to the sidewalk below me to see a young guy with black hair and a backpack turn her way. He checked both sides of the street were clear before he walked across when my heart skipped a beat, there was a slight limp to the guy's walk. His back was to me as he reached the girl and she pouted at him and bopped him on the head playfully.

"You pushed yourself to hard at the gym again didn't you" she scolded, and the guy lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck nervously and smiled to her. He turned his face sideways as she took a step from him and the side profile and the smile. It was Deku. He had changed his appearance, short messy black hair and glasses, but it was him. I shot to my feet ready to jump down and call his name when she took his hand and a second later they were gone. Simply disappeared out of sight. I launched myself off, coming to land where they had just been. I glanced up and down the pathway, getting a few odd looks from others on the street, but they were gone.

"Shit" I cursed to myself. I had been so close, and he was gone. I pulled out my phone to call Tsukauchi.

After that the search area was narrowed down to the few blocks surrounding where I had spotted him. I had described his changed appearance to the rest of the team and for once everyone's hopes seemed to be higher than before.

It was another four days before I spotted Deku again. Half of the search team had been called back to help narrow down the search for Deku's brother after they had caught a lead down south, but I didn't complain. We had narrowed down the search area for Deku and since he was obviously staying with someone it was unlikely that he had left the area.

I was taking a night shift for a change and perched on another rooftop not far from where I had originally seen him when something caught my eye. Faint green sparks moving across the rooftops opposite me, and my face broke into a smirk as I launched myself off with my quirk to intercept the damn nerd. I was so caught up on the hunt that I didn't even call his name as I reached him.

If he had heard me coming he showed no sign of it, letting my explosions die away and momentum carrying me towards him as I reached out for him in midair to grab the back of his shirt. I startled him and he twisted his body to swat my hand away. It ruined his landing on the next rooftop and he came down ungracefully and rolled across the surface. I landed on my feet, and he shot back to his feet only to drop again with a pained sound escaping his gritted teeth, clutching at his left thigh. He lifted his face to me looking feral with bared teeth when he took in the sight of me, and his expression dropped.

"K-Kacchan?" he squeaked out as he rose to his feet more carefully and adjusted the glasses on his nose. I noticed he was trying to keep his weight off his left side.

"Long time no see" I sneered back triumphantly, "now lets go home" I said as I walked closer to him and reached out to grab the front of his shirt, but he swatted my hand away with enough force to make it sting. The grimace was back on his face.

"No" he shot back and turned his back to me, limping across the roof. I could see the green sparks of One For All flicker to life again and knew he was going to jump. On that leg, idiot.

"Deku!" I called, stomping after him and with his limp it didn't take many steps to catch him again. I grabbed his shoulder and he spun back around, shoving me back with enough force for me to drop to a knee to keep myself from falling back. I bared my teeth back at him.

"Not now Kacchan!" he screamed back at me.

"You're brothers gone; you can come back" I spat back at him.

"I said not now!" he was seething, and I had no idea why. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What the hell's going on?" I asked with a hiss.

"I don't have time" he shot back and turned his back to me again, getting ready to jump. I would follow him regardless, but if I could stop him from using that leg, better.

"Tell me," I ordered, "I can help idiot" he faltered. He looked back at me, and his fierce expression was gone, replaced by fear and desperation.

"They took her" he said his voice shaking.

"Who?"

"Miko"

"The girl?" I asked and he looked a little taken aback that I knew that. He looked uncomfortable. He nodded but diverted his eyes.
"Where?" I pushed and he closed his eyes tightly and clenched his fits by his side.

"I don't know" he replied, "she didn't come home" I would have yelled at him for being an idiot, that just because someone was running late didn't mean shit, but I couldn't bring myself to say the words. Considering the circumstances, it was possible.

"Wait," I told him before he could move again, "let me call this in then we can go" I told him and reached for my phone. My eyes were on my phone, so I didn't notice him marching my way until he swatted the phone out of my hands, and it smashed against the concrete roof.

"What the fuck Deku" I spat

"No one can know I'm here" he shot back, the fierceness back in his green eyes.

"They're allies you dumb shit!" I called after him as he turned for the final time and green sparks flickered from him, and I marched towards him ready to clobber him this time.

"Izukuuuu!" called a voice and Deku's head shot upwards, and I followed his gaze as the black haired girl I had seen on the street with him was falling towards him. He opened his arms up wide to catch her and she fell into him, pushing him back. I had to spring back to avoid being caught up in the collision as he landed on his back.

In a rush he sat up the girl against him and he held her at arm's length to see her properly, his eyes wide.

"Are you alright?" he asked almost in a panic

"Are you?" she asked back and I could see her face had been struck and her eyes were wet. Deku got to his feet (with some trouble), bringing her up with him, never letting go of her.

"I'm fine," he lied, he was favoring his right leg even more than before, "are you hurt? Who took you? Where did they take you? Did they do anything to you?" his questions spilled out a millions miles a minute.

"I don't know" she shot back, her eyes were threatening to overflow but her voice was strong and dripping with annoyance.

"And what about you," she pushed Deku, and he was forced a step back, landing on his left leg and with a hiss he crumbled to the ground, "what the hell were you doing, were you running around looking for me? Idiot!" she spat down at him as her tears overflowed, "You can't do that to your leg yet" she scolded him, and he slowly rose to his feet again.

"Stop trying to be such a hero" she told him firmly and her watery blue eyes burned.

"I'm not trying to be a hero" Deku shot back with anger, "I was trying to look after you"

"I don't need you looking after me" she spat back, her fists shaking at her sides, "See, I got out of there just fine. I can take care of myself"

"Miko!" Deku shouted out her name and stepped closer to her, but she turned her gaze away from him out of stubbornness.

"Aren't you going to say you're proud of me?" she asked with no anger and Deku paused, "There wasn't any windows, but I still made it to you," she turned her face back, her eyes still dripping but with a wobbly smile, "I jumped without looking" she said and Deku's whole body relaxed, and he hung his head with a sigh before lifting it to look to her again, this time he wore his own smile that reached his eyes.

"Yes, I am" he replied and with a big breath, opened his arms again and she fell into him and cried.

I was frozen in place with a scowl trying to understand what the fuck kind of tv drama I'd just watched. Did Deku not come back because the idiot was in love or some shit. Gross. And I had just been stuck standing here watching their little love bird argument or some shit. Finally the two raven heads stepped back from each other, and I marched forward.

"Right, now that your girlfriend is safe, lets go" I hissed at Deku with a disgusted eye roll. I reached for him, reading to drag him back to Tsukauchi by his hoodie when the girl's blue eyes locked onto me for the first time, and she reached her hand out to intercept me.

She took my right forearm, and I was ready to turn my scowl on her when a second later we weren't on the roof anymore, instead just above it and she tightened her grip, twisting her body so her back was to me in the air and threw me down over her shoulder to land in front of her, just like Deku had done on our very first mock battle after getting into U.A, only this time we were above the ground by a meter and my back hit the concrete with more force than she would usually be able to throw. She landed delicately by my head.

"Miko!" called out Deku in shock.

"Who the hell is this guy?" she hissed back

"He's a friend" called Deku and I got to my feet with a scowl as Deku joined us, he could jog, but still had a slight limp to his steps.

"What friend?" she shot back, swinging her head to face Deku.

"From school" replied Deku and he turned his attention to me, "are you alright Kacchan?" he asked, and he was smart enough to know not the reach out to me.

"Shut it" I barked back. The girl finally stepped back, but she was unaffected by my glare.

"Well what now?" the girl asked Deku, more calmly now that she wasn't being hostile towards me anymore.

"If they know who you are, they'll know where you live," Deku thought aloud while I stared over grumpily at my shattered phone on the ground. Now I would have to drag Deku back with me to the hotel as I had no idea where everyone else was now that my phone was gone.

"We can't go home," continued Deku, "we can't stay here anymore" he looked to Miko with an apologetic look and she sighed while looking off in thought.

"Let's go grab our stuff and we'll make a run for it" she replied and after a moment of thought Deku nodded.

"Hell no," I growled at them both and green and blue eyes turned to me, "you're coming back to U.A" I hissed.

"I can't go back Kacchan" replied Deku still looking apologetic, and it got under my skin.

"Why the hell not?" I spat back with a scowl.

"They'll just be waiting for me there and I don't want everyone getting hurt because of me" he replied more firmly, and I scoffed at him.

"Luckily, I know just the place to go" offered the girl. Deku nodded to her.

"What are you going to do Kacchan?" he asked, turning to me again. My scowl faded and I frowned back at him in thought.

No phone meant no way to call Tsukauchi.

He already made it clear he wasn't going to come back with me and with the girls teleportation quirk I wasn't going to have luck dragging him away.

"You sure you're not going to come back?" I asked one last time, "that old man who jumps around a lot and the detective buddy of All Might's is here looking for you" I told him, and he straightened a little and then finally shook his head.

"I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of me" he replied quietly, and I scoffed at him. Such a baby, always worrying about everyone else.

"We can't wait any longer" spoke up the girl and Deku looked to her and then back to me again, his expression turning to soft sadness that made me glare at him harder. He offered me a hand and I quickly turned over my options. Villains were close on their trail now. Villains who were affiliated with his brother and the idiot had gotten some girl dragged into this mess. Deku as he was now could probably take on his brother, but if his brother ever got the girl, I'd hate to think about it and then there was the fact that Deku was obviously injured. I wasn't a fan on the bitch, but I doubted Deku could keep her safe on his own as he was right now. He had almost lost her tonight if it weren't for her quirk. I gritted my teeth, hands on my hips, rolled my neck and let out an irritated sigh. I met Deku's waiting eyes again and stepped forward to take his hand and then we were gone, high up in the air above the city.

I was plenty used to traveling in the air with my own quirk but being in the night sky without using it made my gut flip. The girl must have seen what she was looking for and the next moment we were on the roof of another building. Deku released my hand and I almost stumbled. Deku and the girl landed more gracefully on their feet, not feeling unbalanced like I was.

"We'll be back" Deku told me and before I could utter a word of complaint they were both gone again, and the thought occurred to me that they had just dumped me here and wouldn't come back which made my eyes twitch and a rumble escape my throat. If that were the case, I would kill the nerd the next time I caught up to him.

Two minutes later they were both back with a stuffed backpack each. Down in the street below I could hear the screeching of tires and after a quick peek over the edge I saw vans stopped in front of the apartment and men clambering out. Deku offered me his hand again with a small smile and I had to fight the urge to jump down to beat up the obvious bad guys, but I took his hand and Miko took us away again.