Soul Marked

Chapter Twelve

Do your best

Here's another chapter! The next one we will get into the thick of things! There's just minor changes up until the final stage where everyone fights one on one. That's where I twist things up a bit! By the way I cannot WAIT until I get to write season three! SO much I get to do!

I've also officially decided on what her hero name will be and I greatly appreciate for those of whom I asked for help. Without your suggestions I never would have had the idea to look where I did for this name! :D

This chapter will be edited later!

Enjoy and review!

This chapter was edited by my amazing beta: Whatisthiswitchery.

A silent scream warped her face as she shot straight up in bed, sweat sliding down her forehead, and her body shaking. Gripping the blankets she stared up at the ceiling her breathing coming out in short gusts as her chest rose and fell with every puff. Her heart raced and there was a ringing in her ears. Blinking she tore her eyes away from the ceiling and turned her head to stare at her alarm clock.

She had woke an hour earlier than normal but that was okay to her, at least it wasn't in the middle of the night like it usually was. Pulling herself up she peeled back the blanket and shoved herself from the bed. Grabbing a pair of shorts, and a tank top she pulled them on and left the house with her earbuds in her ears.

Turning on a song to run to she began to jog down the street. She had taken up running after her nightmares began to affect her sleep. It helped calm her mind and the repetitive motion of putting one foot in front of the other eased her anxiety. She kept her breathing even, letting it flow in and out with each step she took.

Rounding a corner the air was knocked out of her as she began to fall back. A hand curled around her wrist and yanked her to a stop causing the Mark on her wrist to warm comfortably against her skin.

Her free hand came up to swipe the earbuds from her ears and her emerald eyes locked onto crimson ones. "Watch where you're going," he grumbled as he stared down at her. Izuka quickly repositioned to where her legs were once more under her and lightly tugged her wrist from his grip.

"Sorry, Kacchan," she said softly as she took a step back and stared up at him. He had a towel hanging from his shoulders and she could see he had pulled out one of his own earbuds after she had run into him. His hair was hanging down in front of his face as he breathed heavily. "I didn't see you."

"What are you doing up this early, stupid?" He growled. He had always gotten up at this time of day and had never run into her before.

"I, ano," she began to blush. She didn't want to tell him that in the last few days she had resorted to running because of her nightmares, whether that was at three in the morning or five. No one but Toshi knew she even had them. "I just couldn't sleep." She winced at her excuse. If he had been listening at all this last week he would have heard this excuse leave her mouth every time.

He glared down at her, his eyes roaming over her face trying to read her expression. "Yeah, whatever. Just watch it." He shoved the earbud angrily back into his ear and brushed past her. Her eyes followed his movements for a few moments more before she did the same and began to jog once more.

After an hour she had begun to grow tired and knew it was time to head home and get ready for school. She couldn't not say that her running wasn't helping her with her quirk training, and it helped her endurance greatly as well. Izuka had picked up after school training with All Might down at the beach in the spot they had claimed as their own.

Grabbing her bag she hightailed it out of the house racing toward the train so she didn't make it late to school. She thought back to yesterday once school had been let out. It hadn't been that great of an experience for her, or class 1-A in general. Not that Kacchan had helped the situation any.

Izuka began to stand from her seat ready to just get home, train a little, eat, and make it to bed early. She was exhausted but she was waking up later each time. She hoped it was a good sign that her nightmares were easing up and that soon they would just disappear.

Kaminari came up beside her a huge smile on his face. "Hey you should come to the arcade with me after school!" he said excitedly. "We can hang out." Izuka sent him a small smile but shook her head. A yawn tore from her lips as she quickly covered her mouth.

"I'm exhausted," she said. "Let's hang out another time. Maybe this weekend?" The smile never wavered from his face as he nodded right back at her. She liked Kaminari, he was a good friend, unlike with other girls, he never tried asking her out or flirting with her. They had become friends right away. She appreciated that.

The smile slid from his face as he came to a stop in front of her. "Still not sleeping well?" Izuka sighed at the question as she reached out and patted his shoulder.

"Nothing to worry about!" she sent him a thumbs up and moved past him. "See you tomorrow, Denki-kun!" Ahead of her Ochaco moved to open the door and reared back in surprise. There was a large crowd of students from other departments in front of their classroom.

Izuka moved forward to stand next to Momo who was right behind Ochaco. "What's going on?" She asked as she stared at the other students. Momo shrugged her shoulders a frown tugging at her lips in disapprovement.

"This is inappropriate." Momo said with a sigh. "They are disrupting our class and blocking us in."

"They are here to scope out the competition," Bakugo said with a scowl as he pushed past a few of his fellow classmates and came to a stop next to Izuka. "We're the kids that survived a villain attack, they want to see us before the Sports Festival. Use your brains. No point in it. Now move aside Cannon Fodder!"

Izuka sighed and shook her head as she watched him push forward. He was much nicer than normal but it brought a blush to her cheeks at the looks the other classes gave him.

"Calm down!" Iida said waving his arm at Bakugo. "Please refrain from calling people we don't know Cannon Fodder!"

"It's true that we came here to get a look," came a deep voice. "But you sure are modest. Is everyone in the hero course like this one? I'm a little disappointed. Those of us who didn't make the hero course are stuck in General Studies and the other tracks. There's a lot of us, did you know? Depending on how it goes at the Sports Festival they might consider transferring us to the hero course. And from what I understand the reverse is also possible for you. This is the perfect chance to knock you your pedestal, consider this a declaration of war."

Izuka's eyes widened as she stared at him. He was intense and she hadn't realized if she did poorly there was a possibility for someone to take her spot.

This didn't seem to affect Kacchan at all as he began to shove himself through the crowd.

"Wait, you jerk!" Kirishima yelled out. "What are you doing? Thanks to you we've got a whole mob of haters now!"

"Like I give a fuck," he said turning his gaze behind him to his classmate. "I'm going to be number one, why should I care?" People began to yell at him but Izuka only sighed, Kacchan was just telling it how he saw it.

It did make it a little annoying on how she was going to get through the crowd. She didn't want to push anyone but the other classes didn't seem like they were leaving soon. Kacchan hesitated as he grabbed the first person in front of him, ready to push past them, but a sigh left his lips as he spun around.

"Koneko," he growled a scowl covering his face. "Let's go." He couldn't force himself to leave her here and be stared at. He knew how much she hated that, and would be too nice to push anyone out of her way. Not going to pass up this chance she darted forward, sending Kaminari and Momo a small smile before latching onto Kacchan's backpack.

As soon as he felt the added weight Bakugo shoved the first person he saw out of his way. Izuka following closely behind him.

Stepping from the train she quickly darted through the crowd wanting to get to school soon. Today was the day, it was the Sports Festival, the day she was to prove herself as the future Symbol of Peace!

Gripping her hands at her side she stared over at her school, people were moving through the gates, it was crowded. She couldn't see anyone that looked familiar and her nerves were getting the better of her. Her fingers twitched and she began to move toward the entrance wishing that someone she knew would show up.

Her eyes darted around the crowd she was always subconsciously looking for light blue hair, but having never saw his face, it was her only lead. Her gut twisted at the thought that he was here somewhere. She truly hoped not.

The crowd became denser as she grew closer to the gate and she began to move slower. "Sorry," she muttered as she accidentally ran into someone.

"Ah, a student from class 1-A," came an awfully familiar voice. Her eyes widened as she moved her head to see who it was. It was purple-haired guy from the other day, the one who had stated they could be knocked out to make room for someone new.

"Hello, again," she said pleasantly, sending him a smile. She was trying to be nice hoping that he wouldn't think everyone in class 1-A was rude. He raised an eyebrow at her, a blank look still settled over his face.

"You seem different from the other one," he said turning his purple eyes onto her. Izuka sent out a hesitant laugh as she began to rub at her neck.

"Eto, hai," she said with a close eyed smile. "Kacchan is just a little hot headed. He's determined to be number one, and won't let anything get in his way." Shinso glanced over at her not bothering to say anything. They both moved silently until they got to the gates opening and showed proof that they were students of U.A.

She felt calmer once entering the gates, there were still a lot of people, but they weren't as compact in here. People were farther apart and she was able to breathe easier. Her heart rate had gone down to normal.

Shinso watched her from the corner of his eye noticing the anxious feeling surrounding her. "Do you act like that because of USJ?" He asked cocking his head to the side. Izuka jumped at his accusation her head swiveling around to look at him.

"A-ano," she began to stumble over her words her feet dragging her back several steps away from him. Her eyes were wide in shock as she stared horrified at him. No one had bluntly said something like that to her. "I-I." A hand snatched at her forearm, a harsh glare burning a hole into the purple-haired asshole.

"What the fuck are you doing here with the likes of him?" Kacchan hissed out as he tugged on her arm. She stumbled back coming to a stop at his side as he helped balance her. Izuka was still stumbling over her words as her free hand grabbed at her neck. "Leave her the fuck alone. I don't want you fucking talking to her again."

The guy raised his eyebrow at the hostility rolling off Bakugo. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Why don't you shut your damn mouth," Bakugo hissed out in anger. His eyes widened a fraction in surprise at the question. Izuka's cheeks tinted a pink as her head fell forward allowing her bangs to cover her face.

Bakugo tugged at her arm pulling her along with him. She didn't resist and followed along willingly. Her eyes refused to meet with the guy from before.

"K-Kacchan," Izuka said as she tugged at his hand, he was still gripping her. With a growl he dropped her arm like it had burned him.

He had been passing by when he spotted her curly hair. At first he planned on ignoring her and moving to where there class was to meet, but then he had seen the asshole she was with. He had hesitated but his resolve was changed once he heard the words that spilled from that guys mouth. His head had turned in their direction when he saw the panicked look on her face and the sad expression in her eyes.

It's what caused him to move toward her, to grab her, and leave with her. He hadn't realized his hand was still gripping her own.

"Thank you," she said softly as she walked closely behind him.

"Don't mention it," he said with a wave of his hand. "You should have fucking smacked him. Stand up for yourself, dammit." She sighed and hung her head. That guy had picked at a sore spot, it wasn't something she was willing to just talk about. He had spoke to her without any kind of tact and it shook her up.

He shoved open the door to the prep room refusing to say anything else to her. She followed in after him and walked straight over to Momo, who was the first of her friends that she spotted.

"Are you excited?" Momo asked as she met her friend half way. "I feel so nervous."

"Ah, yeah, it's pretty exciting," Izuka said with a nod. She was beginning to feel better after what happened earlier. "Though my stomach is turning."

"I wish you good luck," the taller girl said clasping her hand on the smaller girls shoulder.

"You too! I hope we both do well!" Kaminari hurried forward upon hearing his best friends voice. Spinning around he reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Look who finally arrived!" he said in greeting. A huge smile spread across his face as he beamed down at her. "Hey there, Momo."

"Kaminari," Momo said in greeting with a nod.

"I got stuck in the crowd," Izuka said as she smiled up at him.

"This is going to be awesome!" Denki stated with a fist bump.

"Yeah, I'm going to be so manly!" Kirishima said as he joined their group. Mina followed closely behind him a smile tugging at her lips as she thumbs upped Izuka.

"The event's are about to begin!" Iida said flailing his arms about trying to gain everyone's attention. It worked for like a second.

"Midoriya," called out a voice causing her to spin around and come face to face with Todoroki. She raised an eyebrow at him confused by why he was even trying to talk to her. They had talked a few times but never enough or about anything important for him to come up to her now. Her head cocked to the side as she moved out from under Denki's arm.

"Todoroki?" she asked questioningly. "What's up?" He stared down at her his face giving away nothing of what he was feeling.

"Objectively I'm stronger than you, more capable."

"W-well, yeah," she said a frown tugging at her lips, unsure of what he was doing. "Sure, I g-guess." Her hand came up to hover over her neck a nervous habit she had picked up.

"All Might has his eyes on you, doesn't he," he said it wasn't a question but a statement. "I won't ask about why he is, but I will beat you." Momo stood next to Izuka her own face twisted in confusion wondering why he was doing this. It was making the smaller girl nervous.

"Is that a declaration of war I hear," Denki asked having moved back closer to Izuka. Kirishima pushed forward to grab a hold of Todoroki's shoulder.

"Hey man, why pick a fight now?!" he said his eyes wide. "We're about to go on, that's not very manly." Todoroki shrugged his hand off him.

"I don't care," he said his eyes still locked onto Midoriya. "I'm not here to make friends." Izuka stared down at her feet, her hand still hovering over the scars that littered her neck before her fingers balled up into fists.

She still felt confused but she felt the need to speak up on her behalf. She wouldn't just get left behind.

"Todoroki," she said her eyes moving up to stare into his mismatched ones. "I'm not really sure why you feel the need to say that, I mean it's clear you are stronger, as I'm sure there are plenty of strong people in our class."

"Hey, Midoriya don't be so hard on yourself," Kirishima said waving his arms at her, his smile turning nervous.

"However, everyone even those from the other classes are aiming for the top. The only thing I know is that I'm NOT going to fall behind you all."

Her eyes had turned determined, a spark had lit them up causing Todoroki to nod. An aura of determination surrounded her lifting her spirits as well as those around her. She gritted her teeth as she forced a smile across her face, beaming at Todoroki.

"I'm going to give it my all! You can count on that!"

"Right," he said before turning away and walking toward the door. Bakugo glared daggers into his back as he walked away, not happy with what he had just done.

He just declared war on Izuka, his Bonded, causing her to at first feel uncomfortable. He had completely ignored him! Todoroki picked Izuka as the person he thought was the biggest threat, and even though he knew she was strong, he was still pissed he had ignored him.

Flashing his gaze over at Izuka he took in the look on her face. It belonged there, it fit her. His gaze softened only for a second before it hardened again and he dragged his gaze back down to the table. Even though she was important to him, he wouldn't be going soft on her.

He would make sure he came first, he'd be on top.

子猫

Izuka was following behind Momo they had been told to head out to the field, her determination from earlier had escaped her and now she once more felt anxious. They were about to step out into hundreds of eyes, and even more through all the cameras. It was nerve wracking but there was also excitement building in her gut, the two feelings mixing and causing an uncomfortable feeling to rise.

"The First Year Stage!" she could hear someone in the stands announce. "The students are coming out!"

She knew her mother would be watching on television and wondered if she would make her proud. Toshi would be in the stands watching from somewhere up above as well. He would be silently rooting for her. Could she make him proud as well?

The nerves she had been hiding so well was beginning to wash over her. The sounds of people screaming and calling out were getting louder as the light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter.

A hand silently landed on her shoulder and she froze for half a second once that familiar warmth washed over her. Her eyes darted to the side where Kacchan was walking next to her, his hand having been the one to touch her. The action caused all the worry and nerves to wash away and she was able to take a deep centering breath.

As the gust of air exhaled from her mouth the touch was gone and Kacchan had once again fell back a step. The connection was lost but she still felt better after their brief contact. A small smile was tugging at her lips.

Toshi's words from weeks ago came back to her. They filled her up as she took a step out into the light of the day. The crowd went wild, shouts of excitement all around her.

'I need you to tell the world, I am here!'

Present Mic's voice rang out through the stadium. "It's U.A.'s Sports Festival! The one time each year when our fledgling heroes compete in a ruthless grand battle! First up, you know who I'm talking about! The Miraculous rising stars who brushed off a villain attack with their steely willpower!"

At the hero's words the crowd became more excited than before. She could feel all their eyes on her and for a moment she wished Kacchan would touch her arm again. It was easier to focus on him than everyone she was about to prove herself too. She wondered how All Might got through this, all the attention focused on him, without buckling under the power those stares had.

"The first years of the hero course! It's class A!"

Izuka forced herself to look up at the stadium and instantly regretted her decision wondering if this had been a good choice after all. Her fingers clenched at her side as her body stiffened. Briefly she felt a hand bump into her own causing her to glance over in shock. It was only for a second but a pinky wrapped around her own, a silent action of comfort and then it was gone.

A warmth spread throughout her body as she darted her gaze to Kacchan who was staring straight ahead but was once again standing next to her. The smallest of smiles tugged at her lips as she allowed her gaze to settle back in front of her. The simple action having helped calm her nerves to the point she was able to pay proper attention to her surroundings.

She told herself she would talk to him after the festival, there were things she needed to say. She was tired of waiting.

"Now for the Athlete's Oath!" R-rated Hero, Midnight, called out as she flicked her whip. Izuka could feel a blush cover her lips at the sight of the hero, but she shook her head. She wasn't sure how anyone was able to wear something like that in front of hundreds of people. Though it was practical for her Quirk.

"Your student representative is from Class 1-A, Bakugo Katsuki!" Izuka's eyes widened at the knowledge as she turned her gaze to the boy who was stepping forward to move up to where Midnight was standing.

"I didn't know he was the representative," Izuka muttered.

"Must be because he placed first in the entrance exam," Kaminari said with a shrug.

"Yeah, for only the hero entrance exam," said one of the females off to Izuka's right. Her eyes widened at her words and shuffled closer to Kaminari.

"The other classes hate us," she mumbled to the blonde boy.

"Bakugo didn't really help matters," Kaminari whispered back to her as he continued to watch the ash blonde boy walk up the stairs.

"The Athlete's Oath," Bakugo began his hands moving to rest in his pocket as he gave everyone a bored look. "Make no mistake about it. I'm going to take first place."

"Why must you show contempt for the dignity of this event!" Iida yelled out. Around her she could hear others cursing Kacchan. He really wasn't very popular.

"You'll all make great stepping stones!" He said in conclusion before turning around and walking back over to his class. Izuka really couldn't help to think that he brought this negativity on himself.

She noticed how he wasn't smiling, his face didn't show any emotion as he moved closer to her. He wasn't being over confident like many were yelling and liked to believe. The Kacchan she had grown up with would have been smiling as he said those words. He would have been gloating.

He wasn't being over confident, he was pushing himself. Telling himself he couldn't lose. Though he happened to be taking all of class 1-A with him and that was the Kacchan she knew. Bakugo walked to stand next to her, his shoulder lightly bumping into her own as he did. She wondered what had changed. He had never given her this much attention before, positive attention.

All of those little things he had done were to help keep her calm, she knew that. It was strange and only caused her to want to talk to him even more.

"Now without any delay, let's get the first event started!" Midnight hollered out. "This is the qualifier! So many are sent home crying every year and the fateful first event this year is!" It was obvious even though she said without delay that the 18+ hero was stalling. Trying to make it more dramatic. "This!" Izuka's eyes fell onto the screen that announced that the first event was an obstacle course race.

"That's interesting," Izuka said as she continued to stare at the screen.

"Every member of all eleven classes will be participating! The course is a four kilometer lap around the stadium itself! Our school preaches freedom in all things, so as long as you stay within the course everything is game! Racers to your positions!"

Everyone began to move toward where they were being directed. Izuka had lost Kacchan in the crowd as everyone pushed trying to get the best position in the front. Izuka didn't care where she ended up. A plan was already forming in her mind how she would get in the front.

This is where she needed to shine!

To tell the world 'I am here!' and prove her worth as the next Symbol of Peace!

The bell went off announcing the start of the race. Her eyes narrowed in determination as she called One for All into the muscles of her legs. Her arms reached out to hook around the shoulders of the people in front of her not caring at all about who they were. Bending her legs she prepared to jump.

So watch me!

As I stated at the top I will have this chapter edited later I just couldn't wait to update!

Katsuki never did answer Shinso 0.o Could he possibly want that? :D

Let me know how you liked it!