Chapter 17

The following day during more of an intense training, Todoroki and Kaiya paired up to combat their Quirks. "You two have the most similar Quirks, so I want you both to challenge each other. Get faster and more creative with your moves. Got it?" Aizawa instructed, leaving the pair to themselves. Kaiya's arms stung with the added work outs the last few days; but she had to push herself.

"What a way to start a relationship. Now we have to fight each other?" Kaiya stated when Aizawa left.

"I guess so. I'll go easy on you." Todoroki told her, causing Kaiya to glare at him.

"That had better be a joke. I will kick your ass Ice Boy." Kaiya challenged, firing up her palms while she shook the earth. Aizawa looked over his shoulder and could tell the confidence was returning to Kaiya by the way she reacted to Todoroki's banter.

"Come get me then." Todoroki smirked as ice particles formed on his hand. They lunged at each other as ice erupted from the earth then smashed by earth fragments. Kaiya circled Todoroki in the air as he blasted flames at her, missing her by a hair. "I thought you got faster?" He asked her, seeing her eyes flash red.

"I'm just warming up." She growled, firing back flames at the taunting teen. He dodged them and pulled an ice wall up to buy himself time before attacking. However, Kaiya saw through his tactic and smashed the ice with a powerful flame and circled Todoroki in a wind tunnel; trapping him.

"Very clever." Todoroki complimented her as Kaiya floated back to the ground. She was calm and despite the quick transitions between elements, she didn't look strained. "You did get stronger."

"I want to be a hero." She stated simply, killing the wind barrier to free her friend. "Let's go again."

Hours passed by and all the students were near exhaustion when dinner was ready to be made. "I am too tired for this." Kaiya whined when she heard Bakugou yelling at Ochako. "At least he isn't blowing stuff up this time."

After dinner; the teens were split up into pairs for the night training against Class 1-B. "The winners are whoever can scare the other students the most!" Mandalay explained. "Choose from these slips of paper for your partner!" Kaiya pulled out Jirou's name and smiled at the girl.

"Vibrations and elements?" Jirou smirked, giving Kaiya a fist bump.

"Sounds like a band name!" Kaiya smiled at her. She looked over and saw Todoroki and Bakuguo matched up and Kaiya burst out laughing. "Oh that is going to be super fun." She said, pointing at the pairing while Bakuguo was already cursing about. Todoroki looked unfazed and walked over to Kaiya and Jirou.

"Hey, after this do you want to talk about our training tactics from earlier?" Todoroki asked Kaiya, his hands in his pockets. A simple request that made Kaiya's heart race; knowing he wanted alone time with her again.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Kaiya managed to say, finding her throat to be dry. Jirou was giggling behind her and Kaiya flicked her off behind her back so Todoroki couldn't see.

"Great. Good luck tonight." He said, nodding at Jirou. Kaiya waved at him and turned to see a pink, laughing Jirou.

"I hate you. Let's go." Kaiya mumbled, walking into the dark forest with Jirou still giggling at the elemental girl.

Halfway through into the training, Jirou was still talking about the "obvious crush" blossoming between Kaiya and Todoroki. "I'm just saying, he is totally into you. He hasn't said more than maybe ten words to the other girls since the first day of school." Jirou told her.

"For someone who doesn't speak much or interject into people's business, you really are interested in this Jirou." Kaiya mumbled, keeping her eyes open for an attack from Class 2-A.

"Right? I surprise even myself. Come on Kaiya, this is pretty cool. The stoic, mysterious boy has a crush on you and it's like you don't care." She smirked.

The time was now for Kaiya to be honest with Jirou, so she sighed heavily. "I like him okay." Kaiya retorted to her, but stopped in her tracks.

"What is it?" Jirou asked Kaiya, her earphones sticking up in alertness.

"I feel...the ground vibrating. Do you?" Jirou stuck her jack into the ground and nodded her agreement. "Should we follow it?"

"It could be anything. But yeah we probably should check it out. It could be a test." Jirou nodded and the two girls followed the vibrations until a large gas rolled into the clearing they were in. "I don't feel so good." Jirou said but fainted before Kaiya could blow the gas away from them.

"Shit." Kaiya cursed, pulling Jirou onto her shoulders, forming a wind barrier around her face to keep the gas away. "Something is wrong. This isn't a training exercise. What is making the ground shake?"

"Everyone! These villains are after a student named Kachaan! Please, be careful. You are allowed to fight back." Mandalay's voice echoed.

"Villains? What is going on?" Kaiya felt more vibrations and could hear some roaring coming from the other side of the clearing as she asked the question. Her eyes widened when she realized what was tearing through the forest. "Fuck me."

Meanwhile, Todorki and Bakugou had their hands full with a villain with blades for teeth, "He's too good at moving through this terrain with his quirk!" Todoroki growled, missing the villain's teeth with his ice.

"This guy looks like a scrawny little sidekick to me!" Bakuguo yelled, throwing more blasts at him. "Use your fire!"

"I can't! I could catch the whole forest on fire if I'm not careful!" Todoroki yelled back. Suddenly loud crashing and roaring reached their ears from behind them. "Is that...Dark Shadow?" A familiar frame came into view as Shoji had Midoriya wrapped up in his arms, running towards the pair with Dark Shadow tearing up the forest behind him. Todoroki narrowed his eyes to also see Kaiya running behind him with Jirou on her back, barely keeping up with Shoji.

"Bakugou! Todoroki! One of you, give us some light!" Shoji yelled out, panic evident in his voice. The group ran up to them as Dark Shadow attacked the teeth villain easily; throwing him into a tree. Then Bakuguo and Todoroki lit up Dark Shadow, shrinking him back to a controllable size, easing the strain on Tokoyami.

"Thank you, you saved me." Tokoyami managed to say; recovering from the overpowering Dark Shadow. Kaiya was hunched over on her knees, laying Jirou down while she caught her breath as Todoroki came over to check on her; relieved she was okay.

Before Todoroki could ask if Kaiya was okay, Bakugou shoved past him. "Why couldn't you use your fire to control Dark Shadow?" Bakuguo asked her roughly, but before Todoroki could jump to her defense, Kaiya's eyes snapped up angrily and poked Bakugou in the chest.

"I was a little preoccupied with carrying Jirou and running from a giant, out of control creature!" She yelled at him, seeing him back off slightly as her eyes turned red. "These guys are after you! So don't start throwing blame around now." She snarled, her eyes not wavering from Bakugou's. Todoroki smirked at her fiery attitude and cleared his throat.

"We should surround you as we walk. Get us all to safety." Todoroki offered, earning a growl from Bakugou.

"With a group like this, we could probably go up against All Might." Midoriya said, tucked away in Shoji's arms. "We have strength, the elements, and explosion to get through all this."

"Let's go." Shoji said, leading the way.

"I don't need protection!" Bakugou snapped.

"Just keep up." Todoroki told him, ignoring his attitude.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakugou snapped again.

"Enough!" Kaiya smacked him on the back of his head, coming up to walk with Todoroki.

"Testy are we?" Todoroki asked her, seeing the anger in her face. Jirou was wrapped around Kaiya's back, still unconscious.

"Yeah. I got scared when Jirou fainted, then I couldn't see anything through the gas until Dark Shadow attacked and I started running with Shoji. I'm a little on edge right now."

"Then Bakugou started yelling at you." He added to her sentence and she just nodded at him. "We'll get out of here. Hey, isn't that Ururaka?" He asked, seeing the girl chasing after a small, blonde girl.

"Ochako! Are you okay?" Kaiya asked her, running up to the panic stricken girl.

"Yeah, we're okay." Tsu answered for her, coming over to join them.

"There was a girl that attacked us; wanted our blood. Creepy." Ochako shuddered.

"We can't stay here and talk, we have to keep moving." Shoji reminded them.

"Um...where are Tokoyami and Bakugou?" Kaiya asked, looking behind her and Todoroki.

"Shit." Todoroki cursed, seeing another villain leap up over the trees.

"Hello there children. Looking for these?" He laughed, showing the group two blue marbles with their missing classmates encased in them. "My name is Mr. Compress and I specialize in the art of illusion." Todoroki shot an ice attack his way but Compress dodged it easily. "Now that I have what we came for, I shall take my leave!" He smiled, floating away from the group.

"Tsu, can you still use your tongue?" Midoriya asked the frog-girl who nodded. "Wrap me, Todoroki and Shoji in your tongue and catapult us towards Compress. Shoji can control the trajectory with his quirk so we can aim better. We have to get them back!" Midoriya instructed.

"Hang on, I'm coming too." Kaiya interjected, handing Jirou to Ochako.

"Kaiya I don't think..." Midoriya started and Todoroki knew Kaiya would not take notice of his words kindly. True to herself, Kaiya stalked up to the smaller, broken boy and glared down at him.

"I can make you faster. Shoji can control the trajectory for sure, but I can speed us up when we lose speed. And once we're back on the ground; I can fight and I'm sorry Midoriya but I will be much more useful than you are in that current state." She explained, looking the bruised boy up and down. "You are running on adrenaline and eventually that will fail you."

"She has a point, Midoriya." Todoroki added, grabbing Kaiya's hand. "No time to argue, let's go." Tsu wrapped her tongue around them and shot the group into the air.

"This is going to be a nasty landing." Todoroki heard Kaiya mumble, blowing wind behind her to make them faster. They caught Compress and pulled him back to the ground hard, forcing him into the dirt. Three other villains stood by, one of them being the blonde girl from earlier.

"Give Kachaan and Tokoyami back to us!" Midoriya ordered the villain.

"Hey I know these kids! Who are they?" A black and white villain asked the small blonde girl.

"Out of the way, Compress." The tall, dark haired villain ordered the magician, firing blue flames their way. Todoroki could see Kaiya freeze for a moment as the flames engulfed the group causing Midoriya to scream as Shoji called out in pain.

"My arms are burning!" Normally unaffected by flames, Todoroki and Kaiya both winced as this flame was more of an intense burn than theirs.

"You felt that right?" Kaiya asked Todoroki as the flames burned out. He nodded slowly, a creeping realization engulfing him. "His flames are hotter than ours." Kaiya stated, analyzing the grin from the blue flame wielder.

Pointing at Kaiya and Todorki, the black and white villain lunged towards them. "The beat up little boy and you two...you're on Shigaraki's kill list! No, they're not!" He argued with himself as Todoroki threw ice attacks at him, with Kaiya throwing earth fragments at him too.

"What the hell is with this guy?" He growled, seeing Kaiya land next to him.

"He's fucking crazy. They all are; that girl especially." She replied, tipping her head to the blonde who was attacking Midoriya and Shoji. "She just tried to bite me before Midoriya got her attention!"

Meanwhile, Compress and the flame villain stood near a purple portal. "Ready?" The flame villain asked Compress who dug into his pocket but came up empty.

"Todoroki, Midoriya, Kaiya! We're done. He gave away his best trick." Shoji called out to them. "I don't know what your Quirk is, but it had something to with those little marbles right? The ones you stored in your pocket? So I'm guessing that these are Tokoyami and Bakugou." Shoji explained, holding two blue marbles in his hand. The teens all took off running away with the two marbles when Compress laughed.

"Color me impressed. Just as I would expect from someone with so many hands; how splendid." Compress complimented as the flame villain growled.

"Right! Good job Shoji!" Todoroki said, throwing up an ice wall to stop the black and white villain, Twice. Kaiya ran with him and noticed a Nomu coming out of the forest. "Quick this way!" However, Shigaraki appeared in front of them, stopping them immediately. "He was at the USJ!"

"It's been five minutes since the signal. Let's go Dabi." Kurogiri snarled, opening more portals for the villains to flee.

"Hang on, we aren't leaving without the kid." Dabi said until Compress piped up.

"Don't worry, they were so proud of themselves for rooting through my pockets that I thought I'd let them gloat. But let me explain a basic tenant of magic. If I'm flaunting something shiny, it's because there's something else I don't want you to see." He stuck out his tongue and showed two blue marbles in his mouth.

"He's got them!" Kaiya and Todoroki gasped. Compress snapped his fingers and ice blocks appeared in Shoji's hands.

"Is that my ice?" Todoroki asked in shocked anger.

"That's right. During your ice attack, I created dummies and stuck them in my pocket." Compress explained.

"Damnit! His Quirk lets him compress and hold things!" Midoriya cursed, running back to Compress.

"A little bit of misdirection. I adore a twist ending." Compressed said, disappearing behind the smoke.

"I'll misdirect my foot to your throat if you don't give us our friends back!" Kaiya snapped, throwing a flame attack his way but Dabi countered it, blowing her off balance.

"Ms. Kaiya Ayumi...I know you." Dabi growled at her through the blue flames. Kaiya froze as his eyes burned into hers as the flames ghosted over her arms. "If it were up to me, you'd be coming with us too." Kaiya growled and swiped through the flames to her attacker but met a hard fist to her stomach.

"One last bow and the curtain fa…" Compress was cut off due to a laser being shot from the bushes.

"Aoyama?" Midoriya called out as Compress spat out the marbles. Shoji, Kaiya and Todoroki jumped for the marbles at the same time, pushing through the pain. Shoji caught one and Todoroki almost did, but Dabi was a split second faster.

He smirked at Todoroki saying, "Well isn't that a tragedy? Poor little Shoto Todoroki." As he fell to the ground hard. Kaiya tried to jump after Dabi but he struck her down with his flames again before she could counter with an attack. "Confirm it now. Release them." Dabi ordered Compress who did as instructed. Tokoyami appeared with Shoji and Bakugou was in Dabi's grip. "Checkmate heh."

"Bakugou!" Kaiya screamed and despite her burns, she reached for him through the smoke.

"Stay back, Green Eyes." Bakugou ordered her as he disappeared through the portal. Midoriya screamed out as he fell just outside of where the portal was. Kaiya was on her knees a few steps behind him, visibly shaking from not getting to Bakugou in time.

Todoroki looked at the blazing blue flames around them in utter defeat; hearing Midoriya's cries. He got to his feet and stumbled towards him and knew the boy had to cry it out. "Kaiya. We have to go." He said to her, reaching for her arm to pull her up. She got up weakly and followed her boyfriend back to the camp ground, not raising her head at all. The villains had won that day and none of the teens could swallow that.

While the paramedics looked her over, Kaiya remained silent. Aizawa had checked on her multiple times and she just nodded her head to each question he asked her. Todoroki didn't have intense injuries; just some scrapes and bruises so he ventured over to her and sat beside her.

"If you ask if I'm okay, I will punch you." She growled, stopping the question from coming out. She glanced at Todoroki and winced at her tone. "I'm sorry. I'm just so angry." She mumbled, rubbing her burn mark. Todoroki itched to touch her but he was unsure how she would react, so he kept his hands in his lap. "I was right there." She whispered. His heart ached for her and he knew she was blaming herself; maybe more so than Midoriya was.

"It wasn't your fault. They were just...faster than us. All of us." Todoroki pointed out, finally placing his hand on her knee.

"It could have been me." She whispered before pushing herself off of the ambulance and gathered her belongings.

"Kaiya, please. Don't shut yourself away." He pleaded with her, but she ignored him and walked to the waiting bus to take them home. The whole journey home, she had her head against the window and her eyes were empty. Todoroki didn't try sitting next to her; he gave her the space she wanted. Once they arrived back at UA with waiting parents; he saw her begin her walk to the gym.

"She'll be okay Todoroki. She's used to losing people, but it's been awhile since she felt she was to blame." Aizawa spoke up next to Todoroki, watching his student leave.

"I'm not so sure sir, I think there's something deeper going on." Todoroki whispered, sharing a concerned look with his teacher before entering his town car. "She said before we left, it could have been her." He told his teacher who's eyes widened at the admission. The car tore off into the distance as Aizawa looked on to a hunched over Kaiya, making her journey 'home'.

Kaiya lay in her bed back at the dojo after she cleaned herself up in the rickety shower. Bakugou's eyes burned into her memory and every time she tried closing her eyes; she heard him telling her to stay back. Kaiya didn't move fast enough and it hurt knowing that Bakugou was gone despite how hard they all worked to save him. Kaiya's phone was blowing up with messages from Todoroki, begging her to talk. The quiet, stoic, loner of a boy wanted her to talk; the irony was not lost in this moment. Kaiya scrolled through the messages; her heart warming slightly at the concern he had for her.

Please call me.

It wasn't your fault.

We're all blaming ourselves.

Kaiya, please. I'm worried about you.

Don't go through this alone.

Baby. Please?

It was the last message that finally broke her shell. She called him and he picked up on the first ring. "Kaiya."

"Hey, I'm sorry for dodging your texts. I just..can't formulate words." Kaiya mumbled, twirling her hair in her fingers.

"I know. Meet me at the hospital in a couple of days. We're all going to see everyone who got really hurt."

"Okay. I'll see you then." Kaiya managed to say good night.

"Wait, Kaya?" Todoroki asked.

"Yeah?"

"Stop messing with your hair, there's no need to be nervous when talking to your boyfriend." He said as her fingers froze their movements.

"That's creepy." Kaiya whispered, allowing herself to smile.

"I just know you, plus it got you to smile I'm sure." Kaiya's eyes widened at his accurate observation through the phone and hung up on him, smiling. Kaiya set her phone down and wished that sleep would overcome her.