Morning Glory Beach- Early Morning- Day 1: Combat Training

Kiryu and Izuku stood on the beach across from the orphanage, staring each other down from opposite sides of a large circle that they had drawn in the sand a few minutes prior.

The caretaker had woken the boy about a half hour earlier, moving him to the dining room where he fed him some freshly-made miso and a rolled egg omelet, with a side of rice.

He had made more and left it warm in the kitchen for the other kids when breakfast time rolled around.

Now was the time. He had three weeks to get Izuku ready for whatever hell Majima-oniisan would have ready for him back in Musutafu.

Not a ton of time, but he was fine with a challenge. It was pressure that made diamonds, after all.

So first things first.

"Alright Izuku. Your training with me starts today. But before that, I need to know what I have to work with. With me so far?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. So, what I want you to do is hit me."

"... What?"

"Hit me. Punch, kick, knee, elbow, headbutt. Doesn't matter what you hit me with or where you hit me, just hit me."

"Um, Kiryu-san… I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"It'll be fine. I've been hit by way worse than a four year old. So, come on. I won't leave the circle and I won't back. You can leave the circle and you have ten minutes to land a hit. If you can, we move on. If you can't, we'll start you on some condition training. Arms, legs, things like that. Okay?"

"Uh, okay."

"Alright, good. Let's get started, then."

Kiryu walked to the side of the circle and set the timer that he had brought out with them for ten minutes, exactly.

That done, he ambled back to his original position, before raising an arm and putting a fist in front of his chin, leaving the other crossed down in front of his waist. It looked simple, but the red aura that burned around the man was anything but.

Even across the circle, Izuku could feel the Heat from the man burning up the cool morning air.

He had felt this kind of Heat before. Under a different context, and with a lot anger mixed in, but he had felt it.

"Clock's ticking, Izuku. You gonna come at me or what?"

No time to think about that, he had to hit Kiryu.

Luckily, his uncle had had an idea that something like this might happen and prepared him accordingly.

A few days before the boy had been to Okinawa, Majima took Izuku to a different part of the Junkbeach as the boy had taken to calling it. This part of the Junkbeach had a full clearing, with a couple of old store mannequins set up on really heavy looking stands. Looking at them, one could see that the damage done to them was recent. Heavy slashes. Denting from something that had to have been from something like a bat, and even just hard imprints from fists.

Majima didn't explain any of that, simply sliding off his jacket and addressing his nephew.

"Alright Izu-chan, here's what's gonna happen. Kiryu-chan's a pretty soft guy when it comes to kids. He won't wanna to hit ya during training, so he'll likely have ya do a test that ya can't pass and then you'll be stuck doin' some shit like breathin' exercises and condition trainin'."

At this, he ambled over to one of the less worn mannequins. Likely one that had used to present men's exercise wear, judging from its build. Firm and muscular.

"I want ya to actually learn somethin' while you're there. I can teach ya conditionin' and breathin' and crap like that here. Kiryu-chan's better off teachin' ya how to do some real damage."

Izuku nodded and waited for his instructions. Whenever his uncle started rambling like this, it would always lead to him having to do some weird or roundabout exercise that showed results pretty quickly, oddly enough. They just left him with this strange feeling of… power. Almost like he leveled up. Like in one of those Arakure Quest games that his dad left behind! Man, he loved those games. He wasn't all that good at them yet, but he loved watching his dad play them and come up with strategies and-

Wait, what was he talkin' about again?

Oh right, instructions.

"Alright, Izu-chan. I'm gonna teach ya a few things how to catch him off-guard so pay close attention to what I do."

Izuku leaned forward and kept his body low, right arm crossed in front of him, the other held loosely at his side, just like he'd been shown.

He hadn't the foggiest idea of how he'd gotten the hang of his uncle's fighting style so quickly, but if he were asked to describe what it felt like when he had seen it action, he'd say that it just clicked. He had a vision in his mind of him using it. Poking eyes, kicking guys into rails, and even choking them. He could see it all in his head. He was too small to do most of that, but that didn't mean he couldn't do anything with what he knew.

At the very least, he knew how to throw a hard and quick punch.

His stance solid, he bent his leg slightly... and kicked off into motion with a war cry. He made a beeline straight for Kiryu, fist cocked back as soon as he was halfway to the man. The man who seemed almost surprised at the young boy's speed.

Not surprised enough to let himself get hit by Izuku's sloppy haymaker, but surprised.

As Kiryu dodged to the side, Izuku stumbled; kicking up dust and desperately trying to keep himself from falling face first into the sand. He sputtered and coughed a bit as some particles floated into his face.

Kuso.

He had missed his shot, he'd been banking on catching the older man off-guard with his speed. A kind of that no child should conceivably possess at age four. And that's exactly what Majima had trained him in. The boy knew he couldn't put all that training to waste, so he quickly regrouped and ran at Kiryu again, another cry past his lips as he raised his fist once more.

He struck at air once, Kiryu having sidestepped his strike again.

It continued like this for some time.

Punch.

Dodge.

Punch.

Dodge.

It got to the point where Izuku didn't even want to hit Kiryu for the training anymore, he just wanted to punch the man out of sheer frustration.

He was tired, hungry again, and sick of getting sand in his eyes and mouth. It stung and he needed to wipe his eyes before he started moving again so see where he was going.

Wait. That's it!

He didn't have much time left. If he was gonna make it work, he had to have the perfect timing.

Steeling himself, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

In.

Out.

He was ready.

He got low again, right arm raised, left arm loose.

Knees bent again, he watched Kiryu's feet. He wasn't doing anything special, his feet were spread apart slightly for better movement. But looking more closely…

Got it!

Exploding into motion, he charged straight at the man once more, fist raised and cocked back again.

Kiryu simply began to step to the side once again, but wasn't prepared for the splash of sand that was thrown into his face.

Slam!

Or the tiny body that launched itself, shoulder first, into his groin.

Riiiiiing!

And as the timer sounded off and he crumpled to the ground in a groaning heap, Kiryu mentally reprimanded himself for underestimating the nephew of one of the most unpredictable people he had ever met.

Minutes later, the two sat across from each other in the circle again; the young Midoriya, oddly smug and Kiryu ignoring the shit-eating grin on the child's face for the sake of his own pride.

"Alright, that was pretty good. I can see you've already got a solid foundation. That was your uncle's fighting style, right."

The boy nodded.

"I see. It was rough compared to his, though. You're supposed to be able to chain strikes fluidly with that style. Punches into elbows into kicks into grabs. It's brutal, but elegant. So you shouldn't be throwing wild haymakers like that with it. The sand thing was clever, though. Just what I'd expect from someone who learned from your uncle."

At this, Izuku preened.

"But," his preening stopped, "your form's still really rough and you can't just go rushing at an enemy like that. I wasn't hitting back, but I assume a villain would. I also assume that they'd be going for the kill if you missed and stumbled the way you did earlier. So we'll be working your balance for a while, until you get a handle on that."

Izuku nodded, and they got to work.

Morning Glory Beach- Late Morning- Combat Training: Day 10

Kiryu had Izuku pull himself into a number of different poses and used a number of exercises, all to improve his balance.

Reverse Lunges on an old exercise ball.

Tree Poses on a large piece of driftwood.

Sumo Squats on a very large rock at the coast at low tide.

After a week and some change of that and more, Izuku's balance was improving by leaps and bounds.

He no longer stumbled when he missed and his strikes were far more measured and fluid than before, if not as elegant as his uncle's.

As evidenced by the fact that Kiryu was actually starting to break a sweat while he dodged the boy's strikes, as some of the other children from Morning Glory watched on and cheered.

"Get him, Izuku!" Taichi

"You've got it, Izuku-kun!" Ayako

"Take him down, Ikkun!" Izumi

"Beat him up, Izu-kun!" E tu, Haruka?

Little Turncoats.

Izuku was loving it, though. His strikes got faster and more fluid as the grin on his face got wider, almost scarily so. So much so, that he had to restrain himself from striking back when Izuku lashed out with a kick, being so oddly reminded of a one-eyed friend(?) of his.

He was getting much quicker.

His stamina was getting better. A couple of days ago, he would've been winded at this point. They'd been at it for a little under twenty minutes and he was just starting to sweat.

But, for some reason, he felt that if he didn't end this soon; Izuku would keep pushing until he dropped.

Not just because of the encouragement of the older kids that he had started to look up to, no. That helped, but the child's drive was far more simple than that.

If he looked closer, he could see it. Heat emanating from the boy. Like blue flame shrouding him in an aura of power. He knew what it was doing to the boy, because he had felt it before. He had been feeling it at that moment.

Though where his Heat felt like a roaring flaming that you could feel from miles away, Izuku's felt like the embers of a soon-to-lit campfire. He wasn't quite ready yet, but if he kept improving at a steady pace, he would be.

Quickly stepping around Izuku's next blow, he strolled out of the circle.

"That's enough, Izuku! Let's call it for today."

Izuku, who had seemingly been having the time of his life judging from how quickly his smile dropped when he was told the fight was over, dropped his stance and took a breath.

Haruka walked over and handed some water and a towel, which he accepted with a wide smile.

"Thanks, Neechan!"

"Hey! What about me?"

"What about you, Uncle Kaz?"

Wow, that was cold.

"Kidding. Here you go." She walked back over towards the other kids, who handed her a towel and another bottle of water. She ambled over to him with both in hand and handed them over.

"Thanks." He took a long gulp of water, before drying off slightly with the towel and draping it over his shoulders. That done, he looked over and addressed Izuku.

"Alright Izuku. That was good. Better than at the beginning of last week. You're really starting to get the hang of a more intricate fighting style and I think that you deserve a break. So you've got the rest of the day off. Do whatever you like. Just be ready to get back to work tomorrow, okay?"

"Um, okay. Thanks, Kiryu-san." He never felt comfortable calling the man 'Uncle Kaz' like the other kids did. It wasn't that he thought Kiryu would get angry about it, he had even encouraged the boy to do it once or twice in the week that he had been at Morning Glory.

No, it was more that he had felt like he hadn't quite earned it yet.

He didn't bring that up with any of his new friends though, he knew that they would just say he was being silly.

He wasn't, he had to earn it. He would be better. He had to be-

"-or some Baseball, right Izuku?" He snapped out of his train of thought as Koji addressed him.

"Uh, yeah!" He heard Baseball and just assumed they were talking about playing a game.

"Awesome! Let's go then!" Luckily, he had assumed correctly.

As he followed the other kids inside to grab the bat, mitts, and ball, he let all of his previous thoughts leave his mind. He was supposed to have fun too, after all.

Morning Glory Orphanage- Early Evening- Day 16

It was getting close to time for Izuku to go back home.

He had improved by leaps and bounds in the time that he was at Morning Glory.

His form was good. Still a bit rough, but far less sloppy than it was when he had first used it against Kiryu.

His speed was out of this world for a child and would only continue to get better as he got older.

His strength, once again, was amazing for a child. Unfortunately, unlike his speed, he'd have to put most of his weight behind a punch or a kick for it to be truly effective against a larger opponent. That'd be dangerous in an actual fight, but it wasn't like he'd be fighting against any adults any time soon.

So Kiryu's evaluation of Izuku's progress in the past couple of weeks, would say that it was amazing.

If he didn't know any better, he would say that Izuku was even picking up on his fighting style a little bit.

He could see some of his own jabs and hooks being thrown into the mix whenever Izuku would get particularly heated up during a spar. They were crude with a bit of wasted movement thrown in, most likely due to Izuku putting his weight behind them to add in some force. It was less like a Dragon and more like a street Brawler. Just like he was, years ago.

It wasn't hard to see that Izuku was a precocious child, but this was almost ridiculous. At this rate, by the time he was old enough to attend a hero school he'd probably be a monster.

Thinking about it made the old dragon chuckle around his cigarette.

Well, all the better for him. You can do it, kid. I believe in you.

And as he watched Izuku beam and laugh, inspiration in his eyes, as he watched a wrestling match with Taichi, he felt that that belief was truly well founded.

"Aniki."

Stamping out his cigarette and looking to where the voice came from he raised a brow.

"Yeah, Rikiya?"

"We need your help."

Several Days Later- Departure back to Musutafu

Kiryu and Haruka walked alongside Izuku, as he wheeled his little suitcase behind him. It had been half-filled with clothes, a toothbrush, and some comic books when he had arrived in Okinawa. Now, he was leaving with souvenirs from all the people at Morning Glory.

A baseball glove from Mitsuo. It was well worn and slightly(comically) big on his small hand, but he still appreciated the gesture.

Some manga from Koji. It was a shounen manga, heavy on explosive action and friendship. Izuku loved it.

Ayako gave him a book about U.A. and its 'most famous alumni'. It looked slightly used, some of the pages dogeared and the cover somewhat shelf-worn, but she hadn't read it. No, she had gone to a used bookstore earlier in the week and gotten it for him when she saw it. She had used the last of her allowance to buy it and smiled brightly when Izuku slammed into her and hugged her waist. She had said that that reaction made the book worth it for her.

Riona gave him a magazine featuring Pixie-Bob from The Wild, Wild Pussycats on the cover. She said it would "teach him how to talk to girls" when he got older. He didn't get it, he could talk to her just fine, but he went along with it anyway. He wasn't gonna turn down some free hero stuff.

Shiro gave him a book on medical terms, stating that he had read it already. It seemed that he had forgotten that Izuku was four and that a good number of the terms would go over his head, but people older than him have made that same mistake numerous times. He couldn't be blamed.

Eri and Izumi pooled together their allowance and bought him a hand-stitched All-Might doll. He was still holding it. Enough said there.

Taichi gave him a book on wrestling techniques. He said he wasn't a big fan of reading and that Izuku would probably get more use out of it than he would. The gleam in Izuku's eyes as he skimmed the book was enough to make most of the older kids at Morning Glory feel just the teensiest bit sorry for any villains that got on the wrong end of the hero hopeful's righteous anger in the future.

Haruka gave the boy some candy and an amulet. She said that the amulet was supposed to protect him from harm and the candy just tasted really good, it being some of Kiryu's favorite. Izuku loved the candy for the two seconds that he had it. The amulet, the string of which was tied around his neck, made him feel secure.

And Kiryu gave him two more things. One of them was an old lighter. He said it was given to him by an old friend, and he wanted to give it to someone who would actually use it, seeing as he could hardly look at it nowadays. He could give it to his mom or keep it for himself. Just as long as someone found a good use for it.

The second thing was something that Kiryu had made sure to give the boy when he knew that they were both alone.

A magazine.

Not just any magazine, but the mythical shrink-wrapped magazine.

He had seen them before, in vending machines that his mother and Haruka told him to never go near, but never up close.

Kiryu instructed the boy to wait for at least five years before opening that magazine, to never let his mother or anyone else see it, and to not hide it under his bed, saying that it's not as great a hiding place as he'd think it is. He would've asked 'why?' to all of the instructions, if the look on the man's face hadn't been so deathly serious.

Instead, he just nodded solemnly and hid the shrink-wrapped treasure beneath all of the other things in his suitcase, already thinking of potential places to hide it when he got home.

He was sad to leave them.

He almost didn't wanna go. Knowing that while his mom and uncle were back in Tokyo, so was Kacchan.

Just the thought of the other boy made him wanna cry.

But when he started to tear up, the other kids, and even Kiryu, all wrapped him up in a hug and said,

"We'll see you next summer, okay little hero?"

And at that moment, it was all okay.