The girl's features drew together in mild incredulity before they softened slightly with concern-tinged amusement.
"Yeah, 'Zuku it's me. Did you hit your head on the way down for your little nap or are you just so hungry you temporarily forgot about me?" Suki pouted lightly, letting out a teasing snicker.
Izuku now resembled a very flustered strawberry with his unruly green locks and his freckles resting stark against generously stained rosy cheeks. Suki decided a flustered Izuku was one of her favourite Izukus.
Suki pulled a still vaguely embarrassed Izuku across the vacant dining hall into what looked to be a generously sized kitchen as she heard another drawn-out growl from the starving boy's stomach. He'd felt bad for taking a moment to recognise her without makeup, but she'd laughed it off and explained that the war paint made them all look quite different. The scent of spices and freshly picked herbs lingered enticingly in the air as she sat Izuku down at a small table in the kitchen's corner usually designated for when people wanted a snack in between meals or had a case of the midnight munchies.
As Suki disappeared for a moment, Izuku attempted to distract himself from the strangled gurgles of his impatient stomach by taking a more detailed look at the kitchen he was tucked comfortably in the corner of.
Two large vats stood atop fire pits in the middle of the room clearly designed to make enough food to feed the entire village, as well as a smaller one for people who wanted to cook for themselves or make deserts and such. The far-left wall was mounted with wooden shelves stacked of clean dishes and various cooking utensils ready for use. Also mounted to the right of that was a cupboard, presumably containing some dry goods and spices for easy access. Overlooking the whole space was a large glassless arched window that people would be served through at mealtime.
Suki returned with a steaming bowl, beaming excitedly for Izuku to try her cooking. She placed the bowl in front of him and held her hand on the lid as she spoke enthused "I did my best to recreate that 'cow-sue-don' dish that you said was your favourite!
"Katsudon," he corrected reflexively. Then her words hit him, and his eyes gained a faint mist, "you did that for me? B-but you've already done so much for me j-just by being here" Izuku practically yelled, voice thick with emotion. "You really didn't have to go out of your way just for me." the green-head assured, unable to get past the idea of anyone other than his mother doing something like this for him.
"Nonsense, champ."
Champ...?
Izuku suddenly had a vision of Suki in 'middle-aged dad' khakis and jersey, cheering on from the sideline of a baseball game.
I wanted to do something to cheer you up and I love cooking. Tada~," Suki sang, lifting the lid with a flourish to reveal a mouthwatering dish with a soft omelette and crispy breaded fillet with golden broth, all over pillowy rice. "It's made with pig-chicken meat."
"Pig… chicken? Never mind, I'm not gonna ask."
He shook the image from his head and stared at the contents of the bowl; it looked amazing. He picked up the chopsticks Suki had placed beside the bowl.
"Itadakimasu," he whispered, taking a tentative bite, allowing himself to register the flavours of the foreign Frankenstein-ish meat still unsure of it. Then immediately shovelled a bigger portion into his mouth. It was … delicious. The meat was so tender and flavoursome, tasting exactly like a mix between pork and chicken, with such a crispy coating with some unfamiliar spice mix, the brothy omelette was perfectly moist and the rice was the best he'd ever eaten.
It might be even better than his mum's katsudon, no matter how blasphemous that sounded.
After a few mouthfuls, he looked up to see Suki looking at him with a smile.
"You like it then?"
He swallowed the food in his mouth, sniffed and replied, "I love it. You really made this? It's amazing!"
"Yup. I'm a pretty good cook. Go on and finish, don't let me keep you." Suki then stood up and moved toward what looked to be a storeroom.
Izuku turned his full attention back to the amazing food in front of him, savouring each taste, melting a little more with each bite, close to tears as he heard Suki taking inventory.
When she noticed he was finished eating, Suki came back and sat across from him. "So, Kyoshi?"
He pushed his empty plate aside and explained leaving Ake's and falling asleep in the shrine. "There was this weird empty space and Kyoshi was there, but she didn't look like her statues or the paintings. She had, like, really casual clothes on and was watching a show. When she finally realised I was there she sort of transformed to look like her statue and told me a bunch of stuff like she was the one who brought me here from my world and I can go home on the winter solstice this year or next year - or maybe any year's winter solstice, I don't know - and that the Avatar would help me get back. Oh yeah, the Avatar has been in stasis, and they'll wake up in a few weeks and come here at some point… She was really weird, not sure if I think she's cool or not. She creeped me out a little. Just like kinda, she knows a lot about me."
Suki dismissed Izuku's complaints, only latching onto Kyoshi. "Wait, wait she called waving a hand in front of her face, mind racing. Let me get this straight, you talked to Kyoshi? …And she said the Avatar is coming back?"
"Yep." Izuku said, popping the p.
"Okay…" Suki breathed. "Good to know I guess," she said vaguely with lingering disbelief.
"Yeah," said with more certainty now, "hopefully, that bodes well for the state of the war. Oh! And you'll be able to get back home." she added as somewhat of an afterthought, not that Izuku could really blame her given what he'd just told her.
"Yeah like you said," he grinned.
"Okay… okay. I'll let Grandmama Ake and Mayor Oyaji know in the morning." She took another breath, still trying to process, before focusing back on him. "You get a good night's sleep, your training starts tomorrow."
"Really?! Yes! Goodnight Suki"
"Night 'Zu" she called after Izuku's running back. She shook her head and left for her own quarters.
With a full stomach and a new purpose to strive toward, and despite his excitement, Izuku fell asleep more content than he had been in years.
Suki had suggested Izuku observe training for the first half of the day, encouraging him to take as many notes as possible, believing if he could first work through each form in a way he understood best it would help him execute moves properly later, especially after having seen some of his previous notes.
So, Izuku sat on the sidelines of the dojo's open space, huddled eagerly over his open notebook encased in a bubble of astonished curiosity, eyes transfixed by the girls moving in slow methodical sync as they committed a new form to memory.
His hand practically flew across the pages of its own volition, eyes barely even sparing his notebook a glance as they drank in the display.
He was careful to note the wide balanced stances as the warriors took lunging steps keeping low to the ground like a panther elegantly stalking its prey, just waiting for the perfect moment to pounce and claim victory.
Izuku recognised this as similar to aikido. A number of heroes back home, namely Gunhead or the underground hero Eraserhead, favoured this combat style as it allows one to apprehend their target by using their momentum against them, minimising injuries to both hero and villain while reducing energy usage. A perfect foundational combat style for heroism that could be mixed and matched with a myriad of others to suit any situation the field may throw at them.
He'd first stumbled upon it when he was younger, attempting to join a community dojo desperately wanting to keep up with Bakugou. Izuku knew the only way he stood a chance at being a hero was to start training immediately and train like hell. Only, Izuku was rejected, harshly.
Nobody wanted to take on a quirkless kid. He was a liability. What if he got injured? Or worse, died! He was a lawsuit waiting to happen (that is if the case even saw a judge.) Besides what could the quirkless runt even do? It'd all be a massive waste of time and energy that could be better spent on more promising students.
Izuku had turned to the only place he could think of. His safe space. The internet. Because no matter how dangerous it was or how shitty people were they couldn't judge him for being a quirkless loser if they didn't know.
So he'd spent hours trawling through forums and HeroTube, analysing any and everything he could find from grainy cellphone footage found deep in forums and snippets from the news to text posts in discussion groups and fan pages, trying to recreate what he saw and learn various forms of hand-to-hand combat, but there's only so much you can learn from a screen without the guidance of a proper sensei.
By this stage, the women had broken off into sparring partners, now confident enough to try the moves themselves.
Izuku was reminded faintly of summer festivals and ritual Mikomai dances and the rhythmic chime of bells that constantly rang in the humid evening air.
The sound began to overlay the warriors' movements entrancing Izuku as his focus narrowed, his gaze calculating, at the intricate zigzags and smooth pivots of feet poised for attack, never hesitating. They dipped and weaved around each other gracefully gliding through the steps, some dodging attacks with relative ease while others needed some adjustment from Suki.
As they moved through the form at different paces each warrior captured a certain equilibrium between the firm and indelible quality seen in earth bending whilst keeping swift, precise and light on their feet, perfect for stealth. Each individual movement was given just enough time to breathe and stand alone.
"Alright everyone, time-out," Suki called, halting everyone's activities. Izuku glued his focus to his notebook as the warriors paused their training.
"Grab a drink or a snack and take a breather, then head back here when you're done, sound good?" A chorus of agreement sounded off around the room as everyone grabbed their stuff and filed out of the room unbeknownst to the green boy still scribbling furiously in the corner. Oblivious enough that he hadn't noticed Suki creeping up beside him to peer over his shoulder.
"Hey Izu, what have you got there?" Suki said casually, sending Izuku flying into the air in fright, dropping his notebook only for it to be snatched up by Suki.
"Jeez Suki you scared the shit outta me!" Izuku exclaimed, clutching his chest.
She waved him off easily as she flicked through the notes with awed interest. "Think of it as a head start on practice, we need to start honing your instincts and sharpening your reflexes. This is really good, Izuku."
"Thanks," he muttered rubbing the back of his neck, she had him talk her through his notes until the warriors filed back in and she ruffled his hair as she went back up front to instruct.
Eventually, Izuku set his notebook down and stood to try to mimic their movements.
"That one should be wider, but you haven't stretched yet so that's fine for now."
He jumped as a voice came from next to him and turned to see two warriors.
"Oh, thank you, um…?" he trailed off expectantly.
"Oh, I'm Sayori and this is Rangi," the girl introduced, lighty elbowing the girl beside her.
"I know I have a pretty old-fashioned name," Rangi drawled.
"And you have two names apparently," Sayori said, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh yeah, what about it?" Izuku asked, befuddled.
"Like, only the very upper class of the Earth kingdom have family names," Sayori explained.
"Oh, no. I'm definitely not upper class. Like we have a bit of money and I live in an apartment with my mum. We're hardly rich, not like the Iida family or the Yaoyorozu family," Izuku rambled, waving his arms haphazardly.
"Huh." Sayori responded, tapping her chin in thought.
"I guess that stuff about you being from another world wasn't bullshit," was Rangi's input.
"Yeah. Things are really different where I'm from. Sorry," Izuku needlessly apologised.
"Pfft. No apologising. It's cool!" Sayori declared, waving him off good- naturedly.
"Actually, it's really strange for me to be using given names, back home we use family names unless we're very, very close or the person is younger than you. It's kind of weird to be calling everyone by their given name so casually," Izuku confessed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, do you want us to call you… Midariyo was it?" Sayori asked.
Izuku laughed despite himself, "no, that's okay, I'll have to get used to it anyway. And I think it'd be even weirder to be the only one using a surname."
"Okay, sounds good Izuku!" Sayori grinned.
The two girls ran him through more of the stances until Suki called out that they were stopping for lunch.
When they'd finished, Suki led him to a room he hadn't been in yet.
"Take off those outer-garments," Suki ordered.
Izuku complied with only a slight dusting of pink to betray any embarrassment. The warriors that had followed them eyed him critically.
"Wow, you have no muscle tone, twig," Suki announced.
Izuku was a little put out; he knew he was nothing to look (at least not yet) at but still, she didn't have to say it like that.
"Well! I tried to learn some martial arts stuff, but they didn't let me join the dojo and my mum banned me from practising at home after I almost went crashing through the drywall in my bedroom after using my bed as a crash mat." he defended.
Suki blinked, then moved on, "that's why we're going to work on it."
Suki applied the warpaint to his face, while Hana and another woman busied themselves slipping him into the garments and armour.
"The silk threads symbolise the brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honour of the warrior's heart," Maki recited, as each component was added.
Finally, they all stepped back as Suki wrapped the last piece, a headband, around his head. They all admired their handiwork.
"So, how do I look?" he asked, jokingly striking a pose, a couple girls, one being Sayori, jokingly swooning, while others giggled. Rangi rolled her eyes at Sayori's antics and weakly slapped her arm. She pouted in response.
Suki stared him down and said, smirking, "you're one of us now, twig."
His blush wasn't visible through the warpaint, but his huge grin was.
Rangi stood up the front and tried to strike Suki over the head with her fan, Suki moving quickly and in a fraction of a second Rangi's back hit the floor, rolling with the momentum so as not to get hurt from the demonstration. Izuku blinked, that was fast.
"So to execute this move, I step back out of the way of the blow and grab the attacking hand," Suki explained as she and Rangi went through the movement much more slowly, "then use my elbow to push into her shoulder; push until they evade or go down."
They split off into pairs, practising the throw, Izuku getting gently thrown to the floor over and over by Sayori but getting tangled when he tried to do the same to her. They slowed it down and Izuku made note of exactly which was being used for what depending on what side Sayori used to attack.
"I got it!" he cheered as Sayori got up after his first successful throw.
"Good job twig," Suki called from across the room, then barked "now do it 30 more times."
"Gotta train your muscle memory so you can do it instantly," Sayori explained as she squared up to attack again.
Everyone alternated throwing their partner and being thrown, rotating partners a few times until Suki called them back to demonstrate another throw.
Maki was the demonstrating attacker for the next throw. "As her hand comes down," Suki explained as they went through the motions, "step out of the way to their attacking side, lock the arm under your elbow, then this is the fun part." She used the hand from the arm pinning Maki's arm to grab her chin and push Maki over onto her back. She giggled and popped back to her feet, attacking for Suki to show them all the throw again.
Izuku was paired with Yona, who had helped with this armour, for this throw. He managed not to get tangled and properly executed the throw after two tries. Yona was having a little more trouble getting it down. On her third try she'd ended up pushing him over with a hand covering his face, having missed his chin. For a brief second, he felt Katsuki's hand over his face, shoving him down into the dirt. He shook his head, banishing the sense memory. When he looked up, Maki was offering a hand, Suki having pulled Yona aside to talk her through the throw again, and Maki having swapped in as his partner.
He smiled and took the offered hand.