Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia; that belongs to Horikoshi. Nor do I own Pokémon; that's GameFreak/Nintendo. I am also not someone who worked on the Fangame Pokémon Reborn. I also have not written and do not own any songs that appear in this fic or work as the title of each of my chapters.
A/N: Hawks and Dabi make their appearance!
WARNING: Implied assault, Dabi murders someone half off-screen.
I hope you enjoy this chapter and this story!
Chapter 4: At the scars that remain
"Taka!" A group of children cried out, outraged and annoyed in different measures. Saori wandered closer, curious.
"Sorry!" Apologised the child who must have been Taka, they walked away from the group. "Um… I can climb. I'll get the ball back down."
She arrived at the group of kids. One of them gasped when they noticed her. "You're really tall!"
The rest of the kids turned and gasped too. "Hey, mister. Can you grab our ball? You look tall enough."
She glanced over at where Taka was walking to and smirked. She could have a bit of fun with this. "I suppose I could." She walked over to Taka and closed her eyes. "Alright, you can make up for losing the ball by directing me, Little one. Where do I need to go?"
"Huh? Oh uh. Take three steps forward." It took a little bit, but Taka managed to direct her to the ball lodged in the lower bounds of a tree. Some of the other kids cried out commands too and she indulged a few of them.
She accidentally snapped one of the two branches the ball was stuck between. Luckily, it was a small one, but it was just a reminder of her inability to use small fragile things. Like picklocks which she still couldn't help but be disappointed about. The kids were impressed by the accident though. They were happy about being given a bare branch to play with too.
"Thanks, mister!" One of the kids, Daichi according to the other kids, crowed as she handed over the ball and branch.
"Thank you!" A kid called Fumihiro also said out. "Your eyes and teeth are really creepy."
Saori blinked at the left-field statement. Are blunt statements a normal thing kids do? She admittedly didn't spend a lot of time around other kids when younger. At least, not normally. Definitely not normal, she thought as she repressed the memories.
She opened her mouth to reply. But the figure that's been up in the air watching finally returned to finish coming down. They had stopped in their flight and watched when she had approached the group of children. Nice to know these kids had someone keeping an eye out for them. In the time she'd been in the city, there'd been a fair few arseholes about she'd had to deal with that would actually hurt kids.
"Now, now, that's not something you should say to someone. Especially to someone who just helped you. You wouldn't like it if someone called your eyes or teeth creepy, would you?" The hero asked the kids.
A few gasped at their arrival from the sky. Excitement made them bound in their spots. Fumihiro's excitement was subdued by the admonishment, however. "Ah, no. Sorry, mister."
She waved it off. "It's alright, you're not the first to say it. Thank you for your apology though, Fumihiro-kun."
A pained fall and thump from a blow caught her attention. She whipped her head in the direction of the ongoing mugging. She'd need to use her quirk to get there in time, but there's a Hero right here. She couldn't.
"What is it?" The hero's question was clipped. They could read her expression and body language to know something was wrong. They're perceptive, she couldn't say if that was a good thing yet. Not many were able to read her, and those who could… she didn't want to be near most of them.
Although it seemed the source of her problem was the solution. With wings, they couldn't be too slow. They'll likely be slower than her, but they could do everything the right way anyway.
"Mugging, some distance in that direction." She pointed. "Group against one." She tapped her ear for an explanation. They nodded and gave a cheery goodbye to the kids as they soared through the air. Feathers perfectly catching air. They're both experienced and skilled then.
The kids both cheered and whined as the hero left. They knew they were going off to do hero things, but they wanted more time with a real hero paying attention to them. They all whined as she told them goodbye. Some even tried to bargain to keep her there. Asking her to play with them.
But more crimes were being committed in her hearing range. She'd quickly discovered that this city was a crime hotspot. Although people were often talking about a new, strong hero that had come and set up his agency in the city about two years ago. They would never have let their children go out and play unsupervised without that hero in the city. They hadn't two years prior.
She'd have to keep away from that hero, she thought.
Someone, maybe the universe, was laughing at her right now. She couldn't guess why.
Maybe dragging a person wasn't kind to them. Criminal or not, there was a risk of brain damage from repeated head trauma. Unfortunately for this one, they had the hardest skull of their group. They'd get the least head damage. Of the others, two were piled on her shoulders and the last of the group was tucked under an arm, small enough to make the hold work.
Look, no matter your physical Strength, people are naturally unwieldy weights. It's hard to carry multiple at the same time and not hurt them. Particularly with skin like hers.
In the month she's been in this city, Saori noticed that the solo acts had almost disappeared from her 'territory' for lack of a more appropriate term. Really it was just the area she could hear from her new home and sometimes a bit farther in the direction of her most often travelled areas. She might have a better memory than average thanks to her Mum, but she could still get lost pretty easily.
To say nothing about how she could rarely find something if she'd left it somewhere different than its usual place long enough. The number of things she'd lost over the years… Let it be known she was never left alone when holding something important and she couldn't even be mad at the 'lack of trust'. She didn't trust herself.
Still, she'd set up a ramshackle, specific, constant, noisemaker at her home base. The Homeless Centre and the Police Station she frequented already had their own unique noises that help her find her way to them. As for the café, she only went with Endo-san, so it was easy just to follow him.
Not far from the police station, she heard an attempted assault go down just outside the edge of her territory. She switched from a walk to a run, the criminals were dropped as she sped past the door of the police station. Sinking into the ground, reducing traffic, she swam shallowly through the ground, just under the concrete.
The 'criminal' died. Fire, roasted flesh.
She sped up. Sound disappeared as she out sped all of it but that which she collided with. The defender, the murderer through self-defence, walked to the body and made it disappear. The intense heat of the fire cremating the dead body could be felt from where she had just frozen under the cement, just inside the mouth of the alley.
The defender turned on their heel and strode away. No hesitation. This wasn't the first time they had done this. Their breathing was raspy but strong. Light damage to either the mouth or throat. They walked over her as they left the alley. Light, not much muscle or fat. With her undivided attention on them, she could detect a male gait. Fluttering clothes. A loose shirt, baggy pants, and a trench coat. Heavy steps with a faint, muffled clang. Steel-toed boots.
He walked away. She rose from the ground. Old burnt living flesh, smoke, and the grunge of unregistered homeless living. Ashes and dead burnt flesh, bones, and organs. Whoever he was, he had a fire quirk with recoil like her older sibling.
She walked over to the ashes that were once a human. Sifting through it with trembling hands revealed nothing left. Not even a bone fragment. She cracked the concrete and had the ground grab all of the ashes. Resetting the concrete and jamming the gaps with hardened earth was easy. She couldn't fix it completely as if it never happened, but she can make it not as bad as it actually was.
She sat there for a while. Focused on her breathing and ignoring the rising emotions and the rolling in her stomach. She swallowed.
"How bad is it that I'm glad he cremated the body?" It was barely a whisper, but she had still expected an answer to come. Her throat clogged itself when none came. She let out a shuddering breath and stood. She needed to get away from here.
A minute later she was dry heaving in one of her home base's extra bathrooms. The stink of vomit in the bowl below her was really not helping. There wasn't anything in her stomach to remove anymore, so she leant back and fell onto the chilled tiles. She jolted up at the contact which led to her hunching over to dry heave again.
Thankfulness rose again for the lack of a body as her stomach ached in emptiness. She stumbled back down the hall and into her 'flat' and grabbed a bottle of water, rinsing her mouth before chugging it to fill the gaping feeling. If it was a smart idea, she didn't know, but there was relief from having some substance in her stomach again.
The stride of the self-defender murderer, she really needs a better name for him, entered her territory. He was going to pass a group of people in an alley. She grabbed another bottle of water along with her discarded robe and tanto pair and raced to intercept. If he had to defend himself again and killed them…
Even as her stomach rolled, protesting the fast pace, she sped up and sound tunnelled. Slowing down, she dropped the bottle into her shirt and walked into the alley to spring the trap first. One flinched and immediately tried to run. None of the others turned to follow and instead came at her. Her tanto dropped into her hands and she swung first even though they charged first.
They were out in seconds, the runaway collided with the burn victim. She still needed a better name for him. That wouldn't work either.
"Run. Run!" The runaway gasped as they regained their footing. "If you see it. If you anger it." They started running again. "I'm not risking it. You can't fight that thing."
They crashed into her chest. Their scream choked itself out as they tipped back and landed unconscious. Burn victim prepared themself for a fight. He was experienced, his stance relaxed but clearly taught. He was trained, and he knew his capabilities. He knew he couldn't outpace her.
She sheathed the tantos and toed the unconscious figure between them.
"I've never knocked someone out through sheer terror before. Not gonna lie, it's kind of fucking awesome." She tilted her head at the burn victim. "I buried the ashes you left. I haven't found a better cremation job." She threw the water bottle at him. "If you have to kill someone again, please do that again. Dead bodies… I really don't want any near me."
She picked the body up and started to return to the alley. The plastic bottle - crunched? crinkled? - in his hand as he manoeuvred it. As she passed him, he turned to her. Short, recently dyed hair swished in the night air.
"You're not a vigilante or hero if you saw that and are letting me go." He said, maintaining his stance.
Saori looked down at him. He was short. "I like being able to sleep full nights without listening to people hurting others or someone trying to attack me."
They stared at each other for a bit. He hummed and shrugged. "Your hideout close by then?"
She shrugged back. "Terrible at distances, but the edge is just a bit that way. Enhanced hearing." She gestured back the way he came. "Just don't start anything and I'll be fine with you."
"You got a name I can call you?" He asked, stance loosening to non-aggression. "Nice to know who to call for body clean up."
It was a joke, but her mouth dried at it. She powered on. "Kaida. She/Her. And my client is?" She tilted her head at him.
"Dabi. He/Him." So, she didn't have to feel too guilty about assuming his gender anymore. Cool. She could hear his burnt mouth pull into a smile. Badly burnt, irreparable damage to it and his throat. "I'll see you around then, Kaida." No honorifics then. Good, they still confused her.
She nodded at him and continued her walk to the unconscious group in the alley. Dabi walked away, remaining in her territory. She knew it wouldn't be the last time she saw him.
A week later, one more meeting with Dabi in the meantime, found her walking around in daylight. The small closed-roof mall wasn't as full as it could have been. School hours reduced the number of people that frequented the area.
Fewer people to avoid knocking into.
She hadn't brought her bag of recently acquired cash or the credit card Endo helped her set up. Her account held the cash she stole from the drug bust and came to the city with. It was a good amount of money, but she's saving it for the devil months. The cursed season. Winter. She shuddered at the mere thought of that time of year.
She didn't enter any of the stores, not wanting to mention her lack of money and deal with the fallout. All she was doing was casing the joint, seeing what the mall had. Her sense of smell was enough for her to search for something to maintain her tantos. Her sheer strength meant that the fights she's been in were still typically one-hit knockouts, but they've been enjoyable to use. A constant reminder of Kiefer and his unconditional love and support for her.
She missed him. But she couldn't go back.
A drum was hit. Her feet turned her, and she lost the scent of sword oil as she left the lingering trace in the air. A music store, full of instruments stood before her. The person that hit the in-person drum was buying the instrument.
"Thank you for your purchase. If you ever need another instrument, please consider us. We have everything from woodwind and strings to percussion and synthetic." The counter person said.
Stings. Cello. Her fingers itched to pluck the strings and draw the bow. It's been a year since she got to play the instrument. Not once during her time in this country. She mentally cursed herself for leaving her money behind. She was in the shop before she even realised it.
"Can I help you?" The cashier had come out from behind the counter.
"Cello." Saori winced at her own demanding tone. "Sorry. Can I try a cello please? Or do I have to purchase first?"
"It's alright. You can. What is your budget?" They asked her.
It took her a moment to recall the number Endo said she had. "I'm new to the area, just seeing what there is here. So, I didn't bring my money on this trip, to avoid impulse buys. But I didn't know this shop was here. I've got a couple of hundred million yen free."
The two discussed specifics about the kind of cello she wanted, and she was forced to admit she's only played her Mum's instruments and doesn't know much about them. They found a cello for her to use and an itch under her skin that she'd ignored for so long finally subsided.
A house a couple of blocks away had someone put on a song. It was muffled due to the noises in the mall itself, but she started playing that song on the cello. The memory of her older sibling playing the same song on the piano accompanied her in her mind.
A person with a weird gait and smelling faintly of fresh and old blood wandered closer to the shop and listened along with a few other people.
"That was lovely." The shop person said. "I could feel the sadness and longing in that song. Who did you lose?"
"My older sibling. It's been a while, but it does still hurt." She breathed and handed the instrument back over. "I'll be back tomorrow to buy it. Thank you for letting me play it now."
"No problem, holding it till then is worth hearing you play." They cheered. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Saori nodded and began walking out. The person who moved like someone with a different body had left and disappeared into the crowd. Shame, she was interested in getting a closer look at them. Maybe figure out why they moved the way they did. She shrugged it off and tried to find the old sword oil trail she abandoned.
The music shop she left played a song on its speakers. One with English words, but different than the one she had just played. It felt like a warning.
When all she needs
When all she wants
And all she finds
When all she is, and ever was
Is compromised
'Cause there's no one to love her when
You built your walls
Too high
And there's no one to love you when you build
Your walls
Too high.
Coming up next: Leaving crumpled bodies in my wake
I like how in Horikoshi's story, everyone seems to have names that either reflect their quirk or some other important fact about them. Like how the holders of One for All are actually numbered off. It makes it easy to name some characters.
As an author, you're technically the god of the character's universe, so if you want to make it mess with your characters, you totally can.
The song of the chapter was Paper Crown, Alec Benjamin.
