Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA/MHA or any of its characters
AN: Umm...so here's this. Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Focused Fire
Her mother greeted her as usual, with a restricted smile and wary affection. Izuki knew that look all too well. Inko probably had a bad day, and seeing her daughter come home dirty, bruised, and late didn't prove to cheer her up in the slightest. Well, at least her mom attempted to support her and was there whenever Izuki really needed her to be; although, her mom had certain things that would provoke what Izuki dubbed the "Embarrassing Mode".
That's what she called it whenever her mom sparkled like a fangirl and tried critiquing every little detail in her daughter's life. It activated when a specific and seemingly random allotment of subjects were mentioned. An example of one of these trigger topics was school. When Izuki's mom heard anything about her schooling, she would praise her constantly and blab about how Izuki would soon be the top of the class and be able to get into college for free because she was brilliant. The Embarrassing Mode didn't have a cure quite yet.
Realizing she was still standing in the doorway, Izuki closed the door behind her and walked to the couch. Sitting down with a sigh, she faced her diligently working mom who was cooking in the kitchen.
"Explain yourself Izuki, what happened?" Izuki looked at her lap in order to avoid her mom's penetrating gaze.
"I did it again." She stared guiltily at her fidgeting legs. A pool of tears formed in her eyes. Her mom didn't look up from her work.
"It wasn't a student, was it?" Izuki wiped away her tears and shook her head.
"No, but the poor guy won't be able to feel anything for weeks." She sniffed loudly as more tears rolled down her cheeks. "He came out of nowhere mom. I thought he was going to kill me." Her mom moved to sit beside her, and hugged her protectively.
"It's okay Izuki, the guy was clearly up to no good; it was self defense. The police shouldn't give any trouble, even if they do find out it was you." Inko brushed a strand of hair out of her daughter's face. She gently turned Izuki's chin up and wiped the the wetness from her features. Izuki looked at her mom with distant and sad eyes. Her green irises were wide and teary. To Inko they resembled the demeanor of a mistreated puppy.
Her heart broke for her child. Why was life so unfair? Why did the gods place the bad luck of ten men onto her poor, beautiful daughter? How could they expect a depressed mother, such as herself, to support a child and pretend nothing was wrong? Inko sighed deeply, causing her dark green hair to tickle the edge of her nose. She kissed Izuki's forehead and did the only thing she could. She brushed back Izuki's dirty hair and whispered in her ear.
"I'll love you always."
…
Izuki watched the news with a pained expression. The anchorwoman had just announced the worst possibility. The slime villain was still at large. She looked down from the TV in shame. That monster was putting innocents in danger because she had been afraid of what the police would think of her. She wasn't qualified to be a hero. When that thought came to mind, thoughts of Kacchan resurrected, as did another old memory.
…
Five-year-old Izuki hung her head in shameful discouragement. What could she tell her friend? No one wanted to play with someone who took suppressants. It would put a target on her back as an uncontrollable delinquent. Everyone would immediately peg her as the naughty kid who'd done something terrible enough to warrant the use of control medicine. They weren't wrong.
She shook her head vigorously in an attempt to clear her mind, but it betrayed her and drifted to the occurrence of yesterday's doctor appointment. She had sat on an adjustable stool that had black padding and chrome colored bars. The doctor had sat directly across from her with a stack of quirk test results and X-rays. His eyes skimmed the sheets for the tenth time. He finally set the binder aside and gave Izuki a grim expression. Then, he turned to Inko and handed her the file. Her mother had read through it carefully and her face had transformed from emotionless to terrified in an instant. Inko had looked at the doctor for confirmation and he gave her a pitying nod.
"I'm sorry ma'am, it seems we'll have to keep your daughter under observation." He paused and sent Izuki a tight smile. "We have to make sure she doesn't lose control, or she could accidentally kill someone." He whispered the last part to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.
"For now I'd recommend suppressants and, if her quirk gets out of hand, she will unfortunately be required to be put into a dormant status." Inko gave a reluctant nod of understanding and peered at her child in concern. She patted Izuki's loose, curly hair to provide some source of comfort to the toddler.
"It'll be okay dear, daddy and I will take care of you." Izuki turned her face towards her mother and pouted. Her big green eyes pooled with the start of a dreary waterfall. The next day her younger self had trotted off to school, rehearsing several different ways to break the news to her best friend. Not paying attention, she inadvertently ran into the exact person she'd been seeking. She fell backward and landed on her bum. Giving a small grunt of pain, she slowly hauled herself up. A soft palm was offered to her. It belonged to none other than Bakugou Katsuki. She took his hand without hesitation and was pulled up beside him.
"Hey Izuki, didn't I tell you to watch where you're going?" Izuki's mouth gaped open, ready to answer his question, but her thoughts strayed back to her quirk results and only stuttering came out.
"Urgh, u-uh…..yeah." Kacchan looked back at her in confusion and took the opportunity to layer on more questions.
"Didn't you take the quirk test yesterday? What's your quirk? There's no way it's stronger than mine, right?" Izuki's eyes widened at his curiosity. She shook nervously as she tried piecing together a coherent sentence.
"Uh, yeah. I took my t-test." She let that answer hang in the air with all its brilliant vagueness. Kacchan looked at her like she was an idiot, and he seemed to be barely resisting the urge to facepalm.
"Well, what were your results then?" Izuki kicked a stick out of her path and debated on how she should answer. Should she just say it straight out? No, if the other kids found out that Kacchan was hanging around with an out-of-control freak like her, it'd ruin his reputation for being the best in the grade. She couldn't do that to her friend. What could she do? There was no way she would ever tell him she was taking suppressants, being quirkless would be better than that. That's it! She'd be quirkless! It'd explain why she seemed hesitant, and why she never used her quirk at school. It was perfect!
"Well, you see….the doctor, he s-said…..I'm quirkless." She stuttered out the last words with an almost excited squeal, luckily Kacchan didn't seem to notice. He could only stare at her in shock.
"Q-quirkless?" He was completely dumbfounded, utterly stumped, outright confused. Kacchan observed her with his mouth gaping and his stunned features highlighted. "N-no way….I can't hang out with someone who's quirkless. There's no way." Izuki's face fell into a surprised frown and tears welled in her eyes. He would leave her; she was a freak.
…
Izuki was jolted from her memory by a hand swiping at her shoulder. Her mother gave her a piece of paper with a list of items on it.
"Since you're not busy, could you get these for dinner tonight?" Izuki skimmed over the sheet and nodded gratefully. This was exactly what she needed for a distraction. She gave her mother a half-hug and jogged out the door. Her breath stirred up dust clouds in the air. It allowed her to focus on the separating particles rather than her tower of guilt.
Her loosely tied ponytail bounced up and down with the rhythm of her feet. Escaping curls shrouded her vision in green. She absentmindedly made her way to the nearest store. Its motion-sensitive doors slid open upon her arrival. Her empty brain was suddenly filled with a chorus of high-pitched screaming. She halted between the doors and listened for more sounds. She tilted her head to listen closer and reassure herself that she wasn't going crazy.
The store's doors started to slide shut on her perfectly still frame. Another loud scream sent shivers up her spine, and her blood pumped faster. Acting on the adrenaline rush, she sprinted forward just as the doors descended on her. The hem of her pants got caught in their hold. Desperation and courage forced her to push onwards. She tore herself from the store's grasp, ripping her pants in the process. Adding an extra burst of speed, she ran directly into the panic.
Her eyes bulged at the sight that lay before her. Towering golden flames licked every building surrounding her. Some of the fire was hot enough to claw at the pavement. In the middle of the chaos sat the slime villain, devouring a meal of his own. His shiny green coat glistened manically against the bright heat. His newest victim writhed wildly within the mass of disgusting slob. She scanned the area in search of help. The heroes all stood uselessly along the sidelines. None of their quirks were fit for fire.
She came back around to face the slime. A tuft of ash-blonde hair clashed horribly with its ugly green background. Clenching her fists in terror, she instinctively reacted to Kacchan's rage-filled irises. Three arms of flexible slime chased after her form. She cleverly dodged them all by alternating between jumping over and sliding under them. She closed in on the villain's face. She reached it and immediately began scraping at the slime that engulfed Kacchan's mouth. Her fingers slipped through the flexible substance with ease, but she didn't give up. The goop finally came free of Kacchan's mouth, and the teenager sucked in a fair amount of oxygen before yelling at her angrily,
"What are you doing? Get out of here, I don't need your help!" His tantrum was cut off by grimy slime fighting its way into his mouth. Kacchan jerked forward, trying to push Izuki out of his way. The blonde's eyes widened as a fist of slime came down upon Izuki. She turned to block it, but her reaction was too delayed. Her vision morphed to black as the villain's grasp seeped over her.
Bakugou watched with furious crimson eyes as the slime began prying at Izuki's lips too. He desperately sent off a flurry of explosions. His muscles tightened from the strain of using too much of his quirk. His attempts to escape seemed pointless and would leave him sore later. Suddenly, the villain surrounding his body went limp and slumped, defeated, to the ground. A gross slopping sound indicated that the attacker had fallen unconscious.
Bakugou panted with exhaustion, only focusing on sucking in as much oxygen as possible into his stressed diafram. His eyes grew wide as he remembered the quirkless girl that had tried saving him earlier. He whipped his head around in a panic, his gaze rested on the crumpled form of Izuki. He went over to her side and rolled her to a face-up position. His sight lingered on the black and blue bruises that littered her skinny frame. A small amount of blush lit his cheeks as he realized it wasn't just her body that had been wrecked.
Her pants were reduced to extremely short-shorts, leaving all her leg muscles on display. Her shirt was tattered, and so torn to threads that the edges of her red and black bra could be seen. His flustering observations were halted by a sweet, but deadly voice speaking in his ear.
"An arousing sight, isn't it?" Bakugou scooted away from the voice in surprise. The spoken words clicked in his head and his cheeks flushed. He was caught off guard by the sexy hero that'd asked him such a dirty question. Midnight smirked at his facial expression and saw an opportunity to have fun. She leaned over him and gave a sadistic grin.
"I'm sure no one would mind if you took her home for the night. They all probably assumed she's your girlfriend anyway." Bakugou's embarrassment grew and he tried to override it with anger. He'd never been assaulted in this way before. He shook away any debating thoughts and brought out his angsty side.
"I'm surprised a shy girl like Izuki picked someone like you to be her favorite hero." Guilt trips are always the best trips.
Midnight's eyes lit with sparks of interest and she glanced at the green-haired teen lying on the street. A small, genuine smile tugged at her lips when she noticed Izuki's curves. It would be fun to train that girl in the art of seduction. Midnight remembered how that girl hadn't hesitated to run and try saving this blonde boy, Izuki's actions had been quite inspiring. Midnight muttered thoughtfully,
"Favorite hero huh?" Realizing she'd said that out loud, she faced the weird slimy blonde boy. "Why don't you let her call me sometime?" Midnight smirked at the boy and shoved a crumpled piece of paper into his fist. She raised her hand up in a signal that meant goodbye.
"Treat her well, she deserves it." Midnight took one last glance at the pair and grinned.
"Don't take advantage of her either, you hear?" She laughed to herself at the dirty suggestion, and for a moment she wondered if the boy would actually do something to the cutie. He may look like a temperamental teen, but it was clear as day that he held genuine concern for the girl. A smile graced her face once again as she found another reason to take interest in Izuki. What was it about that girl that could tame a guy like that?
…
Bakugou sat, stunned, next to the unconscious form of his "friend". His face flushed, in embarrassment? Was he embarrassed? Why did this stupid girl have to go and get herself hurt? He absentmindedly brushed stray strands of hair off her face. He stopped. There was blood. He pulled Izuki into his lap to get a closer look.
Placing hands on each side of her head, he gently turned it to get a full view of the wound. He instinctively reached out to touch it. His concentration broke when she grimaced in pain. Her eyes slowly opened, blinking a few times in order to adjust to the light. Her emerald pools bore into his crimson ones. His breath hitched.
"Kacchan is that you?" She squinted at him groggily. He finally realized how close they actually were. Her head rested comfortably on his crossed legs, and her hands were twitching in anxiety. His own hands had fallen onto Izuki's chest after she'd awoken. Izuki, who thankfully didn't notice the awkward positioning, tilted her head innocently and smiled.
"What's wrong Kacchan? Why are you all red?" He gave her an almost shy look, careful not to move his arms too fast.
"S-shit Deku, you surprised me." He swore inwardly at the terrible sentence he'd just muttered out. Luckily, the carefree girl didn't seem to notice his embarrassment. Izuki smiled again and began the daunting task of getting up. Her arms shook with exhaustion. Bakugou resisted the urge to help, he shouldn't be too heroic. He decided it was time for his escape. He wanted to forget this "nice" side of him ever existed, and he wouldn't mind if she forgot too. Bakugou shoved the paper from Midnight into Izuki's hand.
"Here, don't expect me to thank you or anything." He hid his pink cheeks beneath frustrated hands. He let out a long, angered sigh. What the hell was wrong with him?
Izuki stared after Kacchan and watched curiously as he covered his face, in anger? She looked down absently at the piece of paper. She carefully flattened it out. Her eyes widened. On the paper was a message that said,
"Call me cutie, I look forward to it ~." At the bottom, there was a phone number with a little heart in the corner. Izuki read it again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Kacchan had given her this! Kacchan. She shook her head, no way. This wasn't his handwriting and he would never draw a heart on something, let alone call her cutie.
She closed her eyes and let out a breath of relief. She briefly wondered who wanted to give her their number. Gathering strength, she picked herself up and started walking down the street, fanning her flushed features. She still had some grocery shopping to do after all.
AN: This chapter is dedicated to Green and Magical Natsu, my first supporter. Her favorite BNHA ship is BakuDeku, so there.