It's been a long time coming but I'm back at it again with this fic!
Kacchan was the first to wake after I did and he slid out of his side of the bed with a grumble before he turned and saw me. He froze, his eyes taking me in before he moved past me to the kitchen to make a coffee. It wasn't till he had the drink in hand and turned to lean against the counter that he finally spoke, his narrowed red eyes watching my every move.
"What the fuck you stretching for?" he asked as I shifted positions, reaching for my toes.
"My leg doesn't bother me so much if I stretch first thing in the morning" I answered him without losing my focus. He hummed in reply and sipped at his hot drink.
"Mmmm coffee" came Miko's voice as she sleepily wriggled from bed and shuffled through to the kitchen. She was always so slow to wake up in the mornings that I had to tuck my legs in or else she would have tripped. Kacchan scooted over while she made her own coffee and mirrored his position against the counter and sighed heavily after her first sip.
Both remained silently sipping at their drinks that I found too bitter for my own taste while I finished off the last of my solo stretches. Miko was the one who had created the stretching routine for me each morning and knew each and every step of it. Knowing that the rest I couldn't do on my own she put down her mug with a disappointed sigh and came over to me. I laid down on my back while she took my left leg and maneuvered it so my knee came to my chest and then she pushed down with her weight. It was the most painful of the stretches, but the one that prepared my thigh the best for each day. If ever I skipped that one stretch, my leg would start to ache before the sun had even set.
Kacchan only watched with narrowed eyes before he downed the rest of his coffee and moved to the sink to wash the mug.
"So what's the plan?" grumbled Kacchan as I got back to my feet a little sorely and Miko went back to finish off her drink. The stretches were worth it but left me sore for a little while afterwards.
"You idiots do have a plan right?," he narrowed his eyes and frowned, "like somewhere to go?"
"Oh, I know just the place" jumped in Miko brightly and Kacchan audible grumbled at her.
"Are you telling me you fuckers didn't have some kind of backup plan for when you go discovered?" Kacchan sneered. I could feel my lips press into a thin line and my body threaten to break out in a sweat when his burning red gaze fell on me. Miko seemed unaffected by it.
"Well we never thought we'd get found out" chimed in Miko again just as brightly as she came over to my side and threw an arm around my neck and pulled me in close till our cheeks were pressed together.
"I mean look at us," Miko beamed, "Izuki looks just like my brother"
"And yet you only changed one letter to his name?" scoffed Kacchan and folded his arms.
"Aww don't be like that Kacchan," Miko released me, "his name's already so cute I didn't want to change it" she smiled.
"Don't call me that" hissed back Kacchan and I could see Miko's pleasant smile turn into something more sinister. I had seen that look many times before. It's the look she made when she had found a new button to push on someone and I did not want her pressing Kacchan's buttons.
"Where's this place?" I asked because I wanted to know and partly because I wanted to distract her from annoying Kacchan. Miko spun on her heel to face me. Behind her Kacchan rolled his eyes.
"In the Yūbari mountains" she smiled.
"You want to live in the mountains?" sneered Kacchan.
"I know of a place up there" she affirmed with a finger raised, "you don't have to come" she shot back.
"Or you idiots don't have to go" rebuked Kacchan.
"Kacchan" I spoke up.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever" he hissed back at me and turned past us for the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth.
"So what's there anyway?" I asked Miko.
"You'll see" she smiled back and I could only frown at her.
We had a lot of ground to cover to reach where Miko wanted us to go, needing to pass through the suburbs to the east of Sapporo and through several more towns before we would even reach the base of the mountains. We stuck to walking the streets. As useful as Miko's quirk was it tired her out, made us sick and it was a risk to use during the day time where police and heroes could see her more easily and risk being arrested for using her quirk without a license. The other thing that weighed on my mind was that now the villains after us knew what she looked like and knew what her quirk was.
"Relax," she smiled at me when I brought it up as we walked side by side through the suburb streets, "we can always get away"
"We won't have to get away if they don't spot us in the first place" I shot back with a frown.
"We could always change our appearance again," she chuckled, "how do you feel about blonde, then we could all look like siblings. Almost" she added with a laugh and threw a pointed thumb over her shoulder to Kacchan who was following a few meters back with his hands stuffed in his pockets and a scowl on his face. He was smart and he knew that compared to the two of us that he stood out.
"Miko" I whined.
"Oh I know, how about we catch a cab to the next town. Save us walking" she smiled brightly, ignoring my complaints. She stopped walking to face me with a hopeful expression.
"Because that costs money" hissed Kacchan as he reached us, having heard her clearly.
"We've got money, plus where we are going we don't need it" she smiled to him.
"No, but we need money to get there" I pointed out.
"And using the money for a cab ride is getting there" she beamed back at me, "plus if we get low I know of a place where we can get more" for once both Kacchan and I faced her with questioning glances and she snickered as she looked between us.
"I can almost see it," she snickered to herself and reached forward to pluck the glasses from my face, "if you were blonde, maybe cover up the freckles with some makeup, you could almost pass as brothers" Kacchan and I looked to each other again, my lips twisted with disbelief while Kacchan openly sneered back at me at the idea.
"Hell no!" he barked.
"I don't think so" I spoke up at the same time.
"Yeah," submitted Miko, "the eyes just don't match do they" she turned away with a skip to her step and waved us both on. This time Kacchan walked beside me as we followed her up ahead.
"Why are we going to the damn mountains?" asked Kacchan with a low hiss, his narrowed eyes still forward, "we should be heading south, back to U.A" he added and pointed a glare my way.
"She has a plan" I replied without looking his way.
"Yeah, well that's one of you" Kacchan spat back, "it's not like you to not have a damn plan. What the hell's up with that huh, what are you going to do?" he narrowed his eyes at me more before turning back to face the front. I took the chance to glance his way. I could tell by the hunch to his shoulders that he wasn't happy.
"I-I haven't decided" I replied, looking down at my sneakers, my favorite red shoes long gone. I heard Kacchan give click his tongue in annoyance. It's not that I hadn't thought about it. I still wanted to face my brother, I still wanted to make him pay for what he had done to my, our, family. It hadn't been lost on me that I hadn't heard from my dad in a year. I hadn't been in the position to take time off from school to visit to make sure he was okay and I wasn't supposed to either. My brother lived with him so visiting was always off limits but I should have gone anyway. Once I had a quirk I could hold my own. I didn't have to fear him anymore but mum had been against it so I hadn't gone. My dad's silence had concerned me but I had no other way of contacting him outside of knowing his address far south.
I wanted to go after my brother even if it meant heading back to school to land in a trap seeing as I had no idea where he was but I glared down at my leg as we walked. I was handicapped now. I had my quirk but my stamina and movements were restricted. I was limited. Facing just my brother was one thing but facing several villains with unknown quirks was dangerous. I couldn't rely on my body as well as I could have before.
So my plan making had just gone around in circles for weeks, months. I felt like a dog chasing its own tail. And it was utterly frustrating.
I wanted to go after my brother but couldn't until my leg was healed. He had killed our mum and possibly even our dad. I wouldn't put it past him to want to end me too and carrying All Might's legacy on my shoulders, I couldn't risk that.
I stayed with Miko till I was back at full strength but that put her at risk so the answer to that was leaving her but she had a point, with my leg the way it was I wouldn't have gotten far on my own.
I really was pathetic.
I ground my teeth as we walked and from the corner of my eye I saw Kacchan glance my way again with a frown.
"C'mon guys!" called Miko cheerfully from up ahead and I lifted my head to see her waving to us from the street corner where she had hailed a cab. I heard Kacchan huff as he headed towards her and I smiled to myself as I watched him go, Miko teasingly patting at her thighs like asking a dog to come. Kacchan withdrew his hands from his pockets as he marched closer, taking up his typical gremlin stance as he shouted back at her for treating him like a dog but she only laughed at his anger. It was a scene I never could have imagined seeing and I couldn't help but smile despite the situation.
We crammed into the back of the cab, Kacchan grumbling as we did and Miko requested a hotel in one of the outer suburbs. We rode in silence for a while until Kacchan spoke up again.
"So what the hell's in the mountains?" he grunted to Miko as she sat between us.
"My family used to have a house up there. It's private" she replied with a smile, "it's been years though. It might be a little rundown"
"So your plan is to just hide?" he asked, looking her way with narrowed, unhappy eyes.
"Basically" she replied too cheerfully and Kacchan clicked his tongue at her with annoyance.
"Great," huffed Kacchan, crossing his arms and facing forward again, "you two are basically made for each other. All you two want to do is run"
"Kacchan," I squeaked with annoyance, leaning forward to face him past Miko, "that's not fair" his red eyes flicked to me under his glare and then back again.
"I-" I began, feeling my annoyance already fading when I recalled how useless I was being.
"Yeah yeah, you're a cripple now, I get it" he grunted back and I only lowered my gaze to my lap.
"Actually, I have a friend in the town there that I was hoping could help. It's been a while though so he may not be around still"
"What?" I perked up again, looking to her with wide eyes, "you never said-"
"Yeah I know" she shot back with a frown, "I didn't want to get your hopes up plus there's a price to pay"
"So you need more money?" grunted Kacchan, his interest having been piqued.
"Exactly and for that," she turned to me with a smile and a pointed finger, "we need you to work for it"
"Me?" I squeaked.
"He's injured," spoke up Kacchan, "what do you expect him to do? If it's manual labor, let me handle it" his expression was hard but I was a little touched that he was willing to take my place, or perhaps I was looking into it too much.
"Nope, you won't do" she turned her pointed finger to Kacchan who leaned away from it with a scowl before she dropped it and returned facing forward.
"It's something only Izuki can do" she smiled proudly to herself.
"What exactly?" I dared to ask with my brows drawn together with concern.
"Not telling" she smirked back.
"What? That's just going to make me more nervous" I told her and she huffed through her nose with amusement.
"Don't worry. I have a plan for that too." She threw me a thumbs up which I only frowned back at, "in the meantime, I'm tired from walking all day. Let's get something good to eat and sleep"
We stopped at a hotel, paid the cab driver and got a room with two single beds and a three seater couch which Kacchan approved of but before anyone settled Miko demanded we go out and eat. Kacchan grumbled at her about saving money since apparently we needed it but she just waved his concerns away with a taunting smile and said we'd be fine. When she offered to let Kacchan pick the place to eat, he stopped his complaints and marched off, leading the way through town until he finally stopped at a ramen place where he ordered for all of us before we had even had a chance to glance at the menu and were presented with three bowls of ramen.
Knowing Kacchan, I glared at him from across the table and he gave me a challenging smirk in return and just from that alone I knew my mouth was about to suffer. He always liked his food spicy and I just wasn't good with that. After two mouthfuls my eyes were watering and I was practically panting like a dog which clearly amused Kacchan while Miko took it like a champ, even surprising Kacchan as she downed her food like she hadn't eaten in a week. When I hesitated to take another mouthful, she was quick to swoop in and slide the bowl across to herself to finish. I frowned at her but she only stuck her tongue at me before slurping up anything that was left. She probably would have reached for Kacchan's if he hadn't shot her a warning glare from across the table.
"Yep, you sure know how to pick 'em" he mumbled over his bowl with an eye roll and I turned a questioning look his way but he didn't look to me.
I got a sandwich from a corner store for myself on the way back to the hotel where we took turns showering and brushed our teeth and changed into clothes more comfortable for sleep.
"I'll take the couch" I offered when I emerged from the bathroom. Kacchan was already laying on the furthest bed with his hands behind his head while Miko was making herself a drink in the kitchenette.
"You don't have to do that" whined Miko, "I'll share with you" she smiled at me before taking a sip of her drink and sighing at its goodness. Kacchan audibly groaned from his own bed with disgust and rolled over to face the wall. Miko only snickered quietly into her mug. I didn't bother arguing with Miko over it though. Over the months I had already learnt that she wanted to be close beside me at night and I just accepted it like the new norm now. I had the feeling that Kacchan thought it was more than just platonic but I also felt that if I tried to point that out to him, he would just roll his eyes at me with disbelief.
So I did lay down in the small bed to sleep, my back to Kacchan and Miko flicked off the lights and crawled in behind me once she had finished her drink. I felt her nestle into my back, curling in on herself like she often did to sleep, her knees pressing against me too and with a deep sigh I sunk into sleep.
The mornings were starting to take on a bit of a routine. I would wake up to stretch my leg, Kacchan would watch with a scowl while he drank his coffee and Miko would join him, her hair still a mess before helping me with the final stretch. As we moved from hotel room to hotel room, the money starting to dwindle the routines began to change.
Kacchan would make breakfast for everyone before we even woke to save some money. More frighting, he would take over from Miko with helping me stretch in the mornings, leaning in with all his weight enough to make me squeak from behind bared teeth and blink tears from my eyes, but that only made him smirk down at me.
It had been almost five days since fleeing Sapporo and yet we hadn't encountered any villains seemingly hunting for us or anyone giving us a second glance, but we tried to spend as little time on the streets as possible as we slowly made our way from town to town towards the mountains.
Ebetsu to Namporo to Naganuma to Kuriyama.
According to Miko and the maps, the next town we were heading to was Yubari itself which crossed countryside to reach the foot of the mountains, but she insisted we stay a few nights extra in Kuriyama.
"What for?" grumbled Kacchan past his toothbrush hanging out from between his teeth.
"This is the town best for us to make some quick money before we reach Yubari" Miko explained from her seat on the bed where she scoured a map in her hands of the town, "for that we have to wait till Saturday night"
Kacchan grunted while he brushed his teeth in the bathroom doorway. We were in another room with a double bed and long couch. This time Kacchan ignored Miko's whining in favor of the couch.
"You still haven't told us what that is yet?" I translated for Kacchan and Miko smirked at me from over the map.
"You'll find out on Saturday" she replied before returning her gaze to the paper in her hands.
Kacchan disappeared deeper into the bathroom to spit and rinse his mouth before coming back to us.
"The longer you stay in one place, the higher the chance of being found" he pointed out with a scowl as he let himself fall back onto the couch.
"He has a point" I added with a frown.
"That's fine" she shrugged away our concerns and Kacchan sat up on the couch to glare at her from over the back of it, "we can just stay inside as much as possible till Saturday night" she added without looking up.
"Great" scoffed Kacchan as he fell back to lay on the couch, "because being stuck with you two love sick idiots isn't enough, now I have to be trapped inside with you both"
"Kacchan!" I threw a glare his way but he didn't look to me as he practically pouted up at the ceiling. Miko just laughed.
"Oh, is someone just a little upset at being a third wheel" she asked with a teasing voice and stood to lean over the back of the couch to grin down to him. He huffed back to her and rolled on his side to not face her.
"Miko!," I growled to her, "don't make things worse" I warned her but she just chuckled.
"What, he's too much fun to tease" she slithered away from the back of the couch as she spoke to sit on the bed again just as Kacchan shot up from her words to stare daggers her way.
"What?" he hissed.
"Are we acting too much like a couple for your liking?" she asked with a wicked smirk, "we can play it up if you'd prefer, isn't that right darling Izuki" she added and batted her eyes my way.
"Gross" Kacchan spat back and laid back down.
"Miko!" I scolded and she laughed again before turning back to her map. I frowned at her and grumbled to myself about her behavior.
We only had to wait one more night to pass before Saturday was upon us. In that time, Kacchan took some cash from me, saying he was going to call his parents to at least let them know he was fine and Miko went out to get some groceries leaving me alone for a while. So I showered and sung along to songs I knew.
Surprisingly Kacchan was the last to return and had kicked up a fuss over Miko getting me to cook, spouting that I couldn't cook to save my life. Boy, was I about to prove him wrong. Meanwhile Miko joked that I had really sucked to begin with, which I whined at her for, but then promised to Kacchan that I had improved. Kacchan still complained while he ate the food I made but it was far less than I thought he would and he did eat it all rather than declaring it inedible. So that was something.
Finally Saturday evening came and Miko led us out of the hotel room and onto the streets, all the while still refusing to tell us where we were going which only made me more nervous by the minute, wondering what she was expecting me to do to make money. Whatever it was, she was painfully confident about it. The reason she had been ignoring Kacchan's warnings and complaints about being more money conscious was all because she was so confident we could make decent money tonight. Kacchan offered with a grunt that whatever it was she needed me to do, that he could do it better and she laughed and patted him harshly on his upper back declaring that no, he could not. He gritted his teeth and growled at her but didn't push her away. I didn't know what infuriated him more, being told that I was to out-do him on something or that Miko was acting so friendly towards him.
Finally she stopped before our destination.
"We can't go in there" I hissed at her, my eyes wide from behind my fake glasses. Kacchan's eyes followed mine, moving from the doorway of the place to Miko with a frown.
"Sure we can" she grinned confidently and whipped out her ID.
Thank you so much for your patience if you started following this fic prior to my hiatus. I had overwhelmed myself but working on three different multi-chapter fics at once trying to post each weekly all the while working on one shots and taking part in a monthly writing club with friends SIGH it was a lot so I chose to put it all on hold to focus on just the one fic at a time.
As of last week I posted the last chapter of Life With/Out You!
And so I am free to complete this fic now!
I will attempt to post a chapter weekly and estimated it reaching 10-13 chapters in length so I hope you enjoy.