A/N: Wow, I did not think I'd get this far on this story! Thank you all for reading this. More notes at the end.
...
Kaylee had never felt more exposed in her life as she walked next to Bakugou down the hallway, trying to keep up with his long stride. It was funny, how something as simple as pulling her hair back and standing at her full height made her feel so naked, raw. Thankfully, most of the students had disappeared off to their dormitories or other activities and the few who met in the hallways took little interest in them.
Even though the past two days had been beyond exhausting, Kaylee oddly felt somehow refreshed as she kept up with Bakugou's quick pace. Relaxed even. Honestly, she was somewhat excited about whatever training Bakugou was planning, even though she was still unsure about him. She couldn't help but steal a glance at him out of the corner of her eyes, wondering what his thoughts were. Why did he want to train her? What was in it for him? Why would he even bother? He didn't look angry right now, although earlier he was absolutely furious. He looked calm, determined as he marched down the hallway. The early summer sunlight was fading, but there was enough sunlight glinting through the hallway windows to highlight the gold in his sandy blond hair.
He must have sensed her eyes on him because he suddenly turned to her, and stopped suddenly. She halted her gait as well, nearly stumbling. He grabbed her arm to steady her.
"Does your hand still hurt?" he asked as he suddenly reached out, grabbing her hand that still clutched the bloody tissue.
"No," she replied. He turned her hand over, the tissue falling to the floor as he gently traced the scars with his fingers, avoiding the wound. The bleeding had finally stopped, and the wound looked worse than it felt. His hands were unusually warm and rough, most likely from his own quirk, but the delicate touch sent shivers down Kaylee's spine and goosebumps appeared on her arms. She could only hope he didn't notice, and from the way his eyes were totally engrossed on her palm, he probably didn't. Kaylee knew how awful her palms looked with the mass of scars crossing the centers over and over again.
"These scars, are they from your quirk?"
"Yes." He let go of her hand only to grab the other to give it the same attention. His brow furrowed as he compared the left hand to the right one, frowning as he noticed the differences.
"I was about five years old when my quirk manifested. Is that why they took you? You make diamonds?"
It was really unnerving, how he kept running his fingers over her palms as though he was fascinated with her hands. His touch was light, almost reverent.
"Yeah. I can make a diamond out of any organic material."
"The scarring is worse on the left one," he murmured, hiking her hand up to catch the fading sunlight. "Are you left-handed?"
"Yes, but…" Footsteps echoed down the stairwell, and suddenly Bakugou whisked her in a nearby alcove.
"Look," he said softly, curling a finger under her chin so he had her full attention. "I know Aizawa said you could trust me, but I don't think you are ready for that yet." He bowed deeply, and Kaylee stepped back in alarm. "I'm sorry, Kaylee. I was a complete and utter bastard today. I don't know why I said all of that shit to you." He sighed, raising up to give her a tentative glance. "I've not lost my temper like that in a long time and I want to apologize for it."
Kaylee's jaw dropped. She had a feeling that an apology from Bakugou was a rare thing, and not to be taken lightly. Her jaw worked soundlessly as she tried to form some sort of reply.
"Let me finish," he said, holding up a finger to silence her. "I found an article about you online not long after you came here. It said you were kidnapped and your family killed. I wanted to ask you about it, but I…" he stuttered a moment, and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up even further if that was possible. "..I didn't know how to approach you. I didn't tell anyone either, so don't worry. I just wanted you to know that when you're ready to talk, I'll listen. I'll keep your secrets."
"They said they'd removed all traces of me from the internet," she finally replied. Kaylee remembered the CIA agents telling her that they constantly monitored the internet, scouring for any information about her, including what might appear on the Dark Web.
"Yeah, well…" suddenly he gave a slight grin, "They didn't. Stupid Americans, can't spell names right."
"I don't remember much about that night. Or my family. Just images here and there," she confessed. "I'm sorry too," she bowed before him. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble with Mr. Aizawa. I thought I had perfect control over my quirk, but I guess…" she took a deep breath," I got emotional."
"When you have an asshole screaming shit at you, you're allowed to get emotional."
"The asshole was right though," she replied with a wry chuckle. "I am weak. I don't belong here."
He looked at her closely, eyes roaming over her. Heat rushed to her cheeks under the scrutiny. "You know, I think the asshole is going to end up regretting his words." He nodded towards the hallway. "Come on, let's go."
An hour and a half later, Kaylee wanted to die. Every bone in her body ached, even her hair hurt. Her lungs felt like they might burst from her chest with every breath she took. Her right leg particularly throbbed. Bakugou was merciless. He put her through what he called "the basics," exercises the students went through on their first semester such as running, jumping, push ups, pull ups, sit ups. Basic endurance training.
Even with the new aches and pains, sweat pouring off her, Kaylee felt lighter. She just accomplished something, although she was sure that compared to everyone else, she would be a joke. She found that it was oddly refreshing, not having to think of anything other than just putting one foot in front of the other, focusing on the task at hand. Bakugou was actually patient as he showed her the exercises she was to perform, however, he was also firm and demanding once she got the hang of them. He didn't settle for anything less than perfect.
"So, how did I do?" she asked, trying to control her breathing as they made their way back to the dormitories.
"Tch," he grunted in reply. Of course he wasn't even out of breath, didn't look like he'd even broken a sweat and he'd done the same things Kaylee had. She wanted to punch him, but knew she didn't have enough energy left to lift her arm. "You have no muscle. No power."
"And water is wet…" Kaylee murmured with a slight grin.
He shot her a surprised look. "Yeah." A slight pause, then, "You're light on your feet. Quicker than I expected too. With those long legs, you could build up some serious speed. I thought you'd be more clumsy, considering you'd never done any of that before."
Kaylee smiled at the slight praise.
"You keep favoring your right leg," Bakugou noticed. "What happened to it?"
"It got broken when I was around 9," she replied. "I broke it trying to climb down the side of a mountain in Colorado. It was the first time I tried to escape and they wanted to punish me further for it," Kaylee told him plainly. It was so long ago, she had forgotten about it until it started throbbing halfway through sprinting. "They made me wait a few days before setting it."
He clenched his fists, stopping for a moment. It could have been the fading light, but Kaylee swore his eyes flashed in anger. "Those fuckers that took you, are they still alive?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Good," he said as he started forward again.
Kaylee watched him for a second, thinking. "Wait," she called out. He turned, raising a brow. She trotted closer, just in case there were any others outside to overhear. She wasn't sure why she wanted to confess her crime to him, but felt that she at least owed him that much of an explanation. "Before this – whatever this is-" she gestured between the two of them, "-goes any further, I think you should know that I killed them. I slashed their throats. Well two of them anyway, the other one I stabbed. I'm not sure how many times. I lost count. Then I ran." She was rather proud of herself to get all of that out while keeping eye contact, even though her voice did break once or twice. He wasn't showing much of a reaction, not that Kaylee really knew what to expect. He just stared at her with an intense expression. The sun had set, so his face was in shadow by the bright security lights that dotted the UA campus.
"I'm not sorry, either. I just wanted you to know that," she finished, looking away.
There was silence for a long moment.
"Like I said, you're light on your feet. To really slash someone's throat, you'd have to get behind them, which means you were able to go undetected. You don't have much power in your arms, so you probably had a very sharp blade."
Kaylee blinked. That's exactly what happened. Florian had been the first, he'd been sick from eating rancid meat they had got from a street vendor. Even though she hadn't eaten in days, the knife she created was incredibly sharp. The bastard never saw her coming. Steve was next, although he hadn't been as ill. Rusty, however, had just returned from trying to fence one of her diamonds. Kaylee was able to get behind him once he'd discovered the bodies of the others, but he somehow realized she was there. They struggled, but either due to the shock of seeing his comrades dead, or Kaylee's adrenaline giving her extra strength, Kaylee got the upper hand. She didn't know until later that the fucker managed to survive long enough to crawl outside. She heard he died en route to the hospital.
"Yeah," she answered. "I did."
"Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me that," he said. "Now come on, I'm hungry and those bastards will eat all the good stuff if we don't hurry back."
….
"Dude, where the hell have you been?" Kaminari had just entered the kitchen when Bakugou strode in with Kaylee. Like he suspected, most of the food had been put up for the evening. Fucking losers. "Some first year overheard that you and the new girl got into a fight! You were both seen headed to Aizawa's office and he looked super pissed! They said she was crying something terrible. They said you also looked pissed, but they probably didn't know that's your default look."
Bakugou snorted, ignoring Kaminari as he opened the fridge, getting out eggs, chicken, leftover rice, and other ingredients for omurice. It was something relatively quick and simple to make, and had a decent amount of protein, which he knew Kaylee desperately needed. That was something else he'd need to work with her on, making sure she was eating properly. He'd noticed that she didn't eat well, mostly just grabbing random food choices from whatever Lunch Rush served or grabbing a few things from the cabinets and going upstairs in the evenings. Bakugou suspected that her captors probably made sure she was fed enough to support her quirk, and from the little he'd heard about the fucking bastards this evening, he doubted they bothered to give her any choices. She probably had no idea about food.
He looked over to where she stood, leaning against the wall, biting her lip as she listened to Kaminari's verbal diarrhea. She was partially concealed in shadow, which is why she'd not been noticed yet. He could tell she was absolutely exhausted, but to her credit, she never said a word of complaint. Despite what he told her earlier, she was a quick learner. He thought he'd end up getting irritated about halfway through the training, but actually enjoyed teaching her.
"Word has it she had to be taken to Recovery Girl." Kaminari finished, propping himself against the counter. "Bakugou, come on, even at your worst you wouldn't have hurt her, but still…"
"Of course not, moron!" Bakugou started dicing the onions while the pan heated up. "Kaylee, come here. Can you break the eggs?" Silently, she moved next to him and began breaking up the eggs in a bowl. She was clumsy on the first one, banging the egg on the side of the bowl, but she quickly figured it out and finished up with the other three.
"Kaylee?" Bakugou smirked at the surprise in the moron's voice as he finally noticed her. "Wait, what's going on here? You're both in your gym clothes. They said you were spotted at the track, Bakugou, but you were with some other girl." Kaminari took a step back from the counter, his head moving back and forth as he looked at the pair.
"Woah," he said finally, gazing at Kaylee as though he had never seen her before. "You got taller." He shook his head as if to clear it. "And your hair's pulled back. I like it," he said, giving her a thumbs up and a flirty grin. She fidgeted nervously with the eggs for a moment and gave a tiny grin.
Bakugou began preparing the chicken, completely ignoring the idiot.
"These are done," Kaylee said, gesturing to the eggs. "What's next?"
"Thanks," he handed her a pair of chopsticks. "Here, can you scramble them?"
"Sure," she replied. She nodded towards the moron, who was now openly gaping at them. "Is he ok? They don't really think you would hurt me, do they?" Her nose crinkled as though the thought was repulsive. Fuck, it was kinda cute.
He watched her fumble with the chopsticks for a minute, frowning. "I thought you were left-handed."
"I am, but I was told that left-handed people are even less common in Japan and I should try to blend in," she replied. "Is that not right?"
"Who the fuck cares?" He snatched the pair from her hands and held them out again. "Use your left hand and everyone who doesn't like it can go straight to hell." She began scrambling the eggs with much more dexterity. He nodded approvingly and began with the next ingredients.
The doors burst open again. "We searched and couldn't find her anywh-" Deku's voice trailed off as he, Uraraka and Asui noticed them in the kitchen.
At the same time, Kirishima and Ashido came in from the other door. "Bakugou isn't at the track anymore either – oh, there you are. Hey, man. Looks like the two fugitives were found."
"What's going on?" Deku asked cautiously. Now the five joined Kaminari at the kitchen counter and Bakugou suddenly felt like he was on a cooking program. Every single one of the assholes had a stunned expression on their faces. "Kaylee, are you ok?" Deku asked.
"I'm fine, Deku," she replied as she set down the eggs. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, we heard….that is a first year said that…." Deku stumbled over his words, rubbing a hand over his face.
"We heard Bakugou attacked you," Asui explained patiently.
"That's ridiculous," Kaylee snorted as if that was the dumbest thing anyone had ever said to her. Bakugou couldn't help the satisfied smirk that rose to his lips. She handed him the bowl. "None of you really believed that, did you?"
"Of course not, Kacchan wouldn't do something like that, but still, no one had seen you two since class ended. We went to search for you both," Deku replied. "We found your bags; they're upstairs." He looked to be the only one that had at least partially recovered from whatever stupor they were in.
"Well, as you can see, we're right here. Making-" Kaylee turned to Bakugou. "What are you cooking?"
"Omurice." Bakugou told her, adding the rice to combine with the chicken and veggies.
"Oh, I've never had that before, but I've heard about it!" She leaned over to watch him stir, eyes bright with excitement. She lowered her voice. "They're staring, should we offer them some?"
"Ignore the fucking extras, Kaylee." He grabbed the salt, as Ashido, Uraraka and Asui let out audible gasps. "Now what the fuck is your problem?" These fucking morons were starting to piss him off.
"Holy woah!"
"See, I thought I imagined it the first time he said it-" Kaminari told the others.
"This is weird. I'm kinda freaked out right now."
"Bakugou, you just used her name," Asui said. She turned to Kaylee. "Kaylee. He just said your name."
Bakugou scowled, while Kaylee studied the group as though they'd all just sprouted extra heads. "Of course he did. Was he not supposed to?"
"No, you don't get it," Ashido finally spoke, clipping the words. "He. Used. Your. Name."
"You've barely been here a month," Kirishima explained. "He still has me on his phone as Spiky Hair!"
"Dunce Face." Kaminari raised his hand.
"Cheeks."
"Nerd." Deku added.
"Actually, it's Damn Nerd," Bakugou corrected. He emptied the pan and started pouring in the eggs. He wished these fuckers would leave them alone. He was tired, he was hungry, and he knew that Kaylee was probably twice that. She needed to rest and maybe put some heat on her bad leg. Maybe a long soak in a hot bath would help.
"Your hair is tied back," Uraraka told Kaylee. "It looks good like that."
"Thanks." She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and gave another small smile.
"So, um...what happened this afternoon?" Deku asked.
"None of your fucking business," Bakugou growled, stirring the eggs furiously.
"It was just a small misunderstanding," Kaylee said at the same time. "It's been resolved." This time, she turned to face Bakugou, giving him a tentative, questioning smile that did something to him. Fuck. "Right?"
"Tch." He had to concentrate really hard not to grin in return, which irritated him for some reason.
"Right," Kirishima said, drawing out the word. "And then you both decided to go work out at the track?"
Actually, that is what happened. Sort of. "Yep," Bakugou confirmed. He plated up the food and grabbed the ketchup from the fridge. He squirted a generous dollop on his plate, then paused as he went to do the same for Kaylee's. On top of hers, he wrote her name in English.
"Don't you fuckwads have somewhere to go?" Bakugou placed the food on the nearest table and turned, letting his palms light up.
"Uh, sure-I've got some homework to do, don't you Mina?" Kirishima asked Pinky.
"I sure do," she replied, nodding furiously while staring openly at Kaylee.
"Yeah, same here – we'll see you two later," Deku said at the same time.
"Actually, I don't have anything – UGH!-I'll go too," Kaminari grunted out as Asui harshly elbowed him in the stomach.
Kirishima slapped him on the back as they headed upstairs. "Later, bro."
Bakugou grunted, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, whatever." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Uraraka and Asui gesturing to Kaylee, who was still standing in the kitchen. "We'll talk later," Uraraka mouthed. Kaylee cocked her head to the side, slightly confused, then nodded.
"Food's getting cold," Bakugou told her. "Let's eat."
She grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and joined him. He nudged the chair opposite from him out with his foot so she could sit down.
"Itadakimasu," she said, clapping her hands together. She took a bite, and Bakugou was pleased to see she used her left-hand to hold the chopsticks. "Oh wow, this is incredible!"
"Of course it is," he replied, secretly pleased with the way she closed her eyes as she chewed, moaning softly. Next to being a hero and blowing up shit, he loved to cook. While it was just another thing he was awesome at, he found cooking just calmed him. He got that from his old man, he supposed. The hag was too impatient at cooking and ended up burning everything or serving it under cooked.
They ate in comfortable silence, which surprised Bakugou. It was insane, really. Like how he used his gauntlets for a maximum explosion, the tension between Kaylee and him had built up ever since she arrived. This afternoon was when he pulled the pin, the explosion that resulted was a relief. He felt relaxed around her now, when every other time it was like being poked with a thousand tiny pins.
Bakugou noticed that Kaylee also seemed more at ease. Oh, he could tell she was getting a little nervous with the fools all gaping at her earlier, but she kept her shoulders straight and didn't try to go back into her shell. He wondered if it was due to her confession earlier, about how she escaped those bastards that took her. Fuck, what piece of shit would let a child suffer with a broken leg like that and he was positive that was just the tip of the iceberg of torture she'd endured. He meant what he said when she admitted she'd slashed the fuckers' throats; it was impressive. Damn impressive, really.
"Be down here tomorrow morning at 5am," he told her once they had finished eating and started clearing the dishes. "Breakfast first, then training. I won't go easy on you like I did today."
"Why are you doing this?" Kaylee asked as she took the last dish and dried it with a towel. "You know, helping me, training me. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, I just want to know."
"Because you need help. And that's what heroes do."
….
"So, you and Kaylee, huh?" Bakugou rolled his eyes at the question. Of course the spiky haired fucker would try and ambush him outside his room. He should have expected it, but Bakugou was still lost in his own thoughts once he and Kaylee had parted ways for the evening.
Kirishima was casually leaning up against the doorway of his own room, the door partially open and Bakugou glanced inside as he passed by. He apparently was alone tonight, as he just had on a pair of casual sweats, versus what he'd usually be wearing if Pinky was there, which was usually as little as possible. Shit, in his three years in the room next to Kirishima, he'd seen those two in various states of undress more than he even wanted to think about. Thankfully, the rooms at Heights Alliance were relatively sound proof. He'd go insane otherwise.
"Pinky finally dumped your pathetic ass, huh?" Bakugou sneered as he picked up his bag and opened his door.
"Nah, she and Uraraka are probably getting details from Kaylee," the asshole chuckled. "You know, since you managed to get her talking more than two or three words at a time. Who knew our angry boy Bakugou would be able to get such a shy flower to open up?"
"Do you even hear yourself, you moron?"
"You know me, I'm such a hopeless romantic!" Kirishima beamed. "So, come on man, what happened today? 'Cause something sure as hell went on between last period and this evening. That was quite the domestic scene you had going on there in the kitchen. Reminds me of some of those American sitcoms that Mina loves so much. I almost started checking for cameras."
Bakugou sighed and leaned his forehead up against his own door, the cool wood soothing against the heat in the hallway. He could count on one hand the number of people he could truly call friends, and Kirishima was right at the top. The asshole could make friends with a devil if he wanted; he just had that type of personality. Bakugou could never figure out why the idiot even bothered with him, and quite honestly, was too afraid to ask. If nothing else, he knew Kirishima well enough to know that he had two choices right now: he could talk and tell the nosy bastard what he wanted to hear, or he could tell him to fuck off and then wait while Kirishima brought up the topic at every chance he saw: in class, during training, the hallways, the common area. The stubborn fool would not let up.
So, he let out a sigh and turned towards Kirishima, who still stood patiently waiting. Still smirking like he knew he was going to win. Goddamn it.
"She's been under my skin since she first arrived for some reason. It pisses me off. Today, it just...it just came to a head, and I fucking lost it. Said a lot of hateful shit. Aizawa came in; called us to his office." Shit, just recounting it to Kirishima was exhausting.
"You in trouble?" Kirishima asked. That was the other good thing about Kirishima. He never judged anyone until he had the whole story.
"Surprisingly, no. He asked me to train Kaylee, you know, just basic strength and endurance stuff. Maybe teach her how to fight, defend herself. So, I agreed."
Kirishima nodded. "That girl has had some trauma. I noticed it right off. She reminds me of a caged animal, you know, at one of those awful roadside attractions. It's been caged so long, it doesn't know what to do when it's free. It still acts like it's caged."
"Yeah," Bakugou agreed. Kirishima could always get a good read on people.
"So, what's all this training going to do for her? She's only going to be here for the year, so it isn't like she's planning to be a hero."
"Aizawa says it might help her get some more confidence or something," Bakugou replied.
"Fuck knows, you have enough of that," Kirishima pointed out.
Bakugou gave a wry chuckle. "That's just what Aizawa said." He sighed. "Anyway, I think that maybe helping her get some strength might help her out, you know, mentally or something. You're right though, she's had some trauma."
Kirishima straightened up on hearing that. "Anything I need to know about?"
Bakugou shook his head. "No, and I can't say much. Mainly because I don't know much."
Kirishima nodded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Well, if you think about it, you're probably the best to train her. You're a rude, arrogant, hot-tempered, loud, foul-mouthed son of a bitch, Bakugou."
"Gee, thanks."
"But you're also the best in class when it comes to close combat, have amazing control over your quirk, and quite honestly, probably would make a good teacher if you could rein in some of that other shit." Kirishima clapped him on the back. "So, you're probably the best choice for her if you think about it. Since she's not any of those things. So, when do you start?"
"About two hours ago," Bakugou replied, straightening up.
"Well, there you go," Kirishima grinned. "I barely recognized her in the kitchen. She actually spoke above a whisper. I could actually see her face, and who knew she'd be so tall?" He ran a hand through the red spiky hair, making it flatten for a second. "Those legs…"
"Watch it." Bakugou growled, even though he'd thought the same thing. "Don't let Raccoon Eyes hear you, or there will be hell to pay."
"Hey, I'm not blind!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Bakugou opened his door. "'Night, Kirishima."
"Sweet dreams, lover boy!"
…..
Kaylee wanted nothing more than a hot shower, but just didn't think she could muster enough energy to grab her things and go back downstairs again. Bakugou mentioned that her leg probably could use a good soak in a hot bath, but there was no way in hell she was getting near a bathtub. She had a sink in her dorm, she could just wash off there and wait until the morning.
Just as she got to her room, the door to Uraraka's room opened, startling her.
"Oh, there you are, Kaylee!" The eager faces of Ashido and Uraraka appeared in the opened doorway. Kaylee liked Ashido, but found her to be too excitable and far too loud to tolerate her for more than a few short moments. "Come in here for a sec, Uraraka and I wanted to ask you about tonight."
"Oh, I'm so exhausted-"
"Come on! It won't take long!" Ashido grabbed her hand and pulled her into Uraraka's room. "Here," she pulled out the chair in front of the desk. "Sit here and tell us about you and Bakugou!" Both girls sat on the bed and faced her, eyes wide with curiosity.
Kaylee sighed, torn between nervousness that she was the center of attention, and somewhat pleased that she was the center of attention. She'd never seen the inside of another's room before. Uraraka's room was nicely decorated, with a giant picture of various constellations above her bed, surrounded by even more pictures of her, Deku, and their friends. On the shelf above her bed, there was a framed portrait of what Kaylee assumed to be her parents-as the woman had the similar hairstyle as Uraraka, and the man had her sunny smile. They looked happy. Cheery, brightly colored blankets covered the bed. Uraraka's room was cozy. Fun.
Taking the chair, she sat down, wincing a little as the motion made her leg ache.
"Is your leg ok?" Uraraka asked, noticing her pained expression.
"Oh, it's fine. It's an old injury," Kaylee replied, trying to sound casual. She was so tired, she could barely keep her eyes open. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"You and Bakugou!" Ashido let out a high-pitched squeal, sending a blinding pain through Kaylee's head. "What was that all about?"
"Oh, it was just a stupid misunderstanding," Kaylee said, suppressing a yawn. "We resolved it."
"And….?" Uraraka motioned for her to continue.
"And, then he offered to help train me, you know, to gain some strength and endurance and learn some basic fighting stuff. I said yes, then he cooked dinner."
"Wait, what?"
"Train you?"
Both girls spoke at the same time. "That's just...so unlike him," Uraraka said, sharing a glance with Ashido. "I'm sure he'd be great at it, if he can control his temper, his foul mouth, and learn some patience."
"But what I want to know is what was going on with you two in the kitchen?" Ashido squealed again, bouncing on the bed, jostling Uraraka.
"What do you mean?" Kaylee had fun watching him cook, helping out when she could. Her captors always brought her meals to her, pre-packaged meals designed to keep her healthy enough to use her quirk. It all tasted the same to her, and she never really thought about food having any sort of taste. In the warehouse in Tokyo, they'd barely had enough money for any type of food, and most of the time, Kaylee was fed whatever scraps they had leftover. Her captors had made it as far as Tokyo before realizing that the diamond market was not near as good as it was in Hong Kong, and the small amount of money they'd managed to take with them was quickly gone. They found the old warehouse in the slums, and what meager diamonds Kaylee could manage to make were barely enough to feed them. Or at least that's what they thought.
"Oh come on! You two were so adorable-" Ashido fell back on the bed, arms flailing about. "It was so super cute!"
Uraraka studied Kaylee carefully. "You looked different too. Not just because you stopped hiding behind your hair-" she began quickly, seeing Kaylee about to interrupt her. "But you looked happy."
Kaylee thought about that. In her life so far, happiness wasn't an emotion she dealt with very much. She might have been happy with her family, but she didn't have many memories of that. She'd been so long in survival mode, just trying to get through another day, that even when she was finally free, she didn't know how to do anything more than just...exist.
"I know I don't know you that well, Kaylee, but I saw you smile more tonight than the whole time you've been here," Ashido agreed. "I think you were having fun." Her pink eyebrows waggled suggestively.
Uraraka let out a peal of giggles and clapped her hands. "I think you like him, don't you?"
"Oooooh!" Ashido quickly jumped up, letting out another squeal that made Kaylee wince as the sound tore through her brain. "And did you see how Bakugou acted? I've never seen him so...so…"
"Nice," Uraraka finished, catching on. "And the way he said her name-"
"The fact that he actually knew her name-"
"And what did he write on your omurice, Kaylee?" Uraraka asked, pointing at Kaylee. "I couldn't read it."
Kaylee sighed, rubbing her temples. She didn't really understand where the two girls were going with their train of thought, but she played along. "My name. In English."
Both girls' jaws dropped, looking dumbstruck. "Holy fuck, he wrote your name? IN ENGLISH?" Kaylee had to cover her ears, Ashido's voice was so loud. Her eyes watered.
"Look, I'm going to have to go to bed. I've got to be up early tomorrow morning and I'm so exhausted." Kaylee got up and pushed in her chair. "Good night." Uraraka and Ashido were still gaping at her.
As Kaylee got into bed, she thought she could hear more high-pitched giggling coming from next door, but drifted off to sleep before she could think much on it.
...
I'm not Japanese (big surprise) so I had to do some research to find a simple dish that might be something typically served for dinner. Omurice came up, and I was halfway through the recipe before I realized it was what was commonly served in Maid Sama! and then I couldn't resist having him write Kaylee's name on it. Speaking of research, I hope to hell I don't get flagged by the CIA for some of the topics I've Googled for this story. And OMG-did you all see World Hero's Mission? It was great, although I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that the black stealth suits were only in the first part. Man, those looked fantastic! Also, I could have watched Bakugou's fight all day. Anyways, great movie, not enough Bakugou, but then I'd say that anyway. I hope to have the next chapter out soon, but I just got promoted at work, and with great power comes great responsibility and all that. Thanks again for reading!
