Kazuma Kiryu

Dragon of Dojima

Within seconds, Kiryu was upon the boy, fist swinging straight towards his temple.

Izuku ducked under it quickly, moving in for an attempt at a counter-attack, only to catch a kick to the cheek.

Thwack!

He flew back, hitting the ground hard, while Kiryu moved out of his range once more.

His already aching body screamed out in protest, but he refused to give in.

"Is that all you've got, Izuku?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. Your age catching up with you, old man?"

He brought himself back up to his feet, he could feel his crying joints and weeping muscles telling him to stop, but he couldn't.

The Heat was back again. He could feel it rising in the pit of his stomach, but even more so he could feel an even greater Heat from someone else.

It came right across him, on that very rooftop.

It came from Kiryu.

He had seen that aura of his before, but he never truly felt it like he felt his own.

His Heat often felt to him like a warm stove sending a tingle through his whole body.

Safe, secure, and strong all at once.

Kiryu's Heat, however, was on an entirely different level.

It burned like a raging inferno. It stifled the air and made him sweat the longer he focused on it.

He's really strong. Can I really…?

He shook his head to clear those thoughts before he could even finish them.

Kiryu was on another level, but he knew that already. He couldn't let that stop him. He had to win this.

He steeled himself and came at Kiryu again, fist aimed at the man's stomach.

Thwack!

He flew back again, spittle flying from his mouth, as Kiryu pulled his fist back from the straight he had delivered to the boy's torso.

Izuku could feel bile rising up in his throat. He forced it back down and stood up again, rushing his opponent again.

Thwack!

Swatted again.

He got back up and charged again.

Thwack!

Again.

Thwack!

And Again.

Thwack!

It continued like this for a while.

Thwack!

Thud!

WHACK!

Kiryu would knock him down and Izuku would keep getting back up.

By the time five minutes had passed, Izuku stood with shaky legs and stumbled with every step that he took.

If his body was begging to stop before, it was practically screaming at that point.

Even taking too deep a breath hurt.

"It's over, Izuku."

"No, no it's not."

"Izuku, you can hardly even stand. The challenge is over."

Izuku's feet began to drag halfway scraping across the concrete.

Shffff! Shfffff!

"No, it's not. I'm still standin'... and I've got four more minutes… 's not over till I hit ya or time runs out."

Shffff! Shfffff!

"You don't know when to quit, do you?"

Izuku grinned, the fatigue that he felt only showing on his body, never his face, "Ya never taught me how."

Kiryu sighed, but if you looked closely, you'd be able to spot the tiniest twitch at the corners of his lips.

And when Izuku finally reached the man, he could feel his Heat die out. That was fine.

I can hardly stand, my legs feel like jelly and concrete all at the same time. I've only got one shot at this, I need to make it work. I just need one hit.

Kiryu's aura, his red Heat, burned hotter and brighter than it had moments before and a particularly persistent bead of sweat rolled from Izuku's forehead.

From his crown, to his temple, down his cheek, until it stuck to the tip of his chin.

It stayed there for a few seconds.

3… He kept his eyes on Kiryu, he was still in his stance.

2… He balled his hand into a fist.

1… His muscles tensed.

NOW!

His balled fist flew forward-

Woosh!

-striking nothing but air as Kiryu sidestepped him, and moved to counterattack and likely end the challenge right there.

Boom!

"Nani?"

He likely would have succeeded if he hadn't been thrown back by the explosive counter-punch that Izuku launched into his chest. He anchored his feet and skidded to a stop before he could possibly stumble, while Izuku silently celebrated.

Gotcha! He then started to fall. Oh dear.

He caught himself on the rail at the edge of the roof.

Clunk!

He hit the chilled metal hard. It was definitely going to bruise, but he wasn't on the ground, so he would accept both of his victories while he tried to ignore his body's screeching reprimands.

And as Izuku tried to not only celebrate his triumph, but regain feeling in his legs, he heard footsteps approaching. Seeing as there was only one other person on the roof with him, he figured out who it was quickly enough.

"Where'd you learn the Tiger Drop, kid?"

"Oh, so that's what it's called…" Has anyone actually used to drop a tiger? I mean, it definitely hits hard enough. "Well, anyway, you used it on me earlier, so I just… copied what you did. "

He heard Kiryu chuckle, but he ignored that in favor of trying to push himself upright.

Damn legs, work!

After a few more seconds of struggling, he felt himself being turned and sat down. When he looked to see why Kiryu was manhandling him, his vision filled with the sight of a small bottle with a black label decorated with an image of a blue star.

"Staminan Spark?"

"Drink it, it'll make you feel better."

That sounds incredibly suspicious. Then again, this is Kiryu-san so… Bottoms up!

He twisted the cap and chugged the sweet drink with a taste that seemed... almost familiar.

And as he felt it slide down his throat, he suddenly felt energized and all the feeling in his legs returned.

Whoa! I've gotta get more of these.

As he picked himself up off the ground, grasping the railing for support, he heard the sound of a flint being flicked repeatedly.

Click! Click! Click!Click!Click!

Kiryu grumbled under his breath as his lighter sparked and sparked, but stubbornly refused to light his cigarette.

"Here."

He looked down to see a smaller hand holding a familiar old zippo that he distinctly remembered parting with, over half a decade earlier.

He chuckled again as he took it from the boy and lit his cigarette, "Still holding onto this old thing?"

"It was a gift from you, so I've been taking care of it. Even if I don't use it for much."

"Well that's good of you." His cigarette lit, he attempted to hand the lighter back to Izuku, only to be stopped when the small boy's hand pushed it back.

"You can keep it if you want. You know, since the one you've got is… Well, you know."

Kiryu pushed back and pressed the lighter into Izuku's hand.

"It's yours. I gave it to you, and I'm not taking it back. Just keep it, I won't be asking for it."

Izuku looked at Kiryu, who just leaned over the railing and enjoyed his smoke.

He put the lighter back inside of his stajun and joined the old dragon, leaning on the railing just to his side.

And once more, on the rooftop of New Serena, there was silence.

A silence that was soon broken by the older male of the pair.

"So, now that you're calm, do you want to tell me what it was that was bothering you?"

"Huh?"

"You've walked into the bar as stiff as a board, and I could tell that it wasn't just because of your pain. So, c'mon. What's your problem?"

Of course. He's been dealing with the guys at Morning Glory for forever. Course he'd notice that something was wrong with me.

Seeing that there was no use lying or pretending that nothing, Izuku just sighed.

"Alright. Have I told you about Kacchan?"

"You've mentioned him before."

"Right. Well, we were friends for a while before he got his quirk. Well, not really friends, I kinda just followed him around, and he let me. Our moms wanted us to be friends though, And Kacchan tried. Well, okay, he didn't really try. He was always kinda really cruel and mean and put me down and tellyouthetruthIdon'treallyknowIwantedtobehisfriendsobadlylikemymomwouldn'tcareshewasfriendswithhismombutevenshecouldadmitthathewasabitmucandmuttermuttermuttermutter..."

Kiryu, having dealt with Izuku before after he'd gone into one of his fits, simply put his fingers in front of the boy's forehead and…

Flick!

"Ow. Sorry Kiryu-san. What was I saying, again?"

"You were friends with Kacchan before he got his quirk."

"Right. So, before he got his quirk, he was still a jerk, but a much less violent jerk. He showed me the kanji in my name and then rearranged them to turn it into Deku."

"'Useless'"

"Yup. It's got a few other meanings too. 'Good For Nothing', 'Wooden Doll', 'Puppet'."

There was a bitter edge to his tone, as the final word spilled from the boy's lips.

Kiryu stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

"He played me. I'm supposed to be so smart and Akatani played me. He got me all the way to Shizuoka, made me think he killed my mom, and if I had gone to get him by myself, like I was planning to do, he would've taken me."

"..."

"He strung me along like a puppet. Everyone says that I'm so fucking smart and he still played me. And when I actually beat him, he almost made me- I almost- I-" His breathing became heavy.

Kiryu didn't say anything, he just gave the young greenette time to compose himself.

It took a while, but Izuku eventually managed to compose himself and continue what he was saying.

"What kind of hero falls for that? All Might wouldn't. Best Jeanist wouldn't. You wouldn't. And I know Jiji wouldn't."

The boy was breathing heavily again and he was gripping hard enough onto the railing that the metal began to twist.

Kiryu decided that it was time for him to cut in. He put a hand on Izuku's shoulder and squeezed slightly.

"I was twelve when I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. It was on Christmas Eve, and in the orphanage that I grew up in, there was this older guy who used to come in and visit us kids there. We never knew when he was gonna pop up. Well, we never knew with the exception of one day: Christmas Eve. He always came to visit on Christmas Eve, it was one of the few things we orphans could count on."

The look in his eyes was somewhat fond; that fondness only served to make the melancholy beneath it more pronounced.

"Then one year, when I was twelve, he didn't show. I was worried, so that night, I snuck out here to Kamurocho to see what the problem was. I saw him right there, getting into a car right across the street from where we're standing."

He pointed to the front of an office building across the street.

"I saw him, he saw me, and he told me to go home. I didn't. Instead, I followed the car he was in to where it was going, and when I found him again, he was at gunpoint. I thought he was in danger so I rushed in to save him. He wasn't and I ended hurting both the old man and someone who I'd end getting close to, years later."

"Kiryu-san…"

"Fast-forward about eight years or so. I ended up joining the Yakuza to try and follow in the old man's footsteps, to see if maybe I could live a more fulfilling life as a Yakuza. Then one day, I ended up the smack dab in the middle of a full-on political war between the three lieutenants in the family I joined. I ended up having to leave the Yakuza for a while, go straight, and try to figure things out. I made some friends around town, went on a few dates, I even ended up running a real estate firm for a while. It was a fine life while it lasted. It was too bad, honestly, that that's not what my life was intended to be."

"What do you mean?"

"There was still a war going on in the family I left, Izuku. And the old man that I ended joining the Yakuza to emulate, he was in danger because of it. I wasn't going to let that stand. So with some help from a few friends, associates, my bro… I ended up pushing back. It was hard, a lot of people, good people, ended up dying. It wasn't fair. It was even worse when I found out the person behind it all was playing me like a fiddle the whole time."

So that's why…

"I know how you're feeling right now, Izuku. It's normal to feel that way. It'd be shocking if you didn't. Majima wasn't perfect. Neither are any of those heroes of yours. I'm definitely not. And that's because, under the shine that we have in your eyes, we're just people too. We can be tricked or hurt or fall into despair, just like anyone else. But keep this in mind, alright? 'Pride is received from despair. Accepting that despair allows you to tower over the fools who doubt you, like a crane over landfills.'"

Did he really just-?

"Kiryu-san, did you really just quote your own song at me?"

The older male turned his away from the young hero hopeful, "...No idea what you're talking about."

"Sure, ya don't…" A shit-eating plastered itself across the boy's face, "Judgement Kazzy."

"Cut that out."

"I dunno, maybe I'll start callin' ya that now."

"Or you could not."

"I think I will."

"I try to cheer you up and you use that as an opportunity to make fun of my very short music career and my one collaboration project with your uncle?"

"'The gods cannot help those who do not seize opportunity.'"

"Pardon?"

"It's Confucius. My mom quotes his stuff all the time to win arguments."

"Does that actually work?"

"More than you'd think it would."

"Huh, neat. Anyway, getting back to the matter at hand, don't call me that. Especially around the kids at Morning Glory. They don't know about that chapter of my life, and if I have it my way, they never will."

"Alright, it was a joke anyway, Kiryu-san."

That made the corner of Kiryu's lips quirk down just a little bit.

"You know, you could just call me 'Uncle Kaz'. I've been telling you that you could for six years, now."

"Yeah, and…" I still haven't earned it "I'll make ya a deal."

Kiryu raised an eyebrow, "Oh, what is it?"

"As soon as we save Haruka-neechan and my mom, I'll call you 'Uncle Kaz' as much you want. I'll call you 'Uncle Kaz' so much that you get sick of it!"

Kiryu looked the boy in his eyes. As usual when he did this with Izuku, he saw nothing but earnestness.

"Alright, you've got it. Now let's get back inside, I think I hear your detective friend yelling again."

"Yeah, we should probably get on that."

And with that, the two walked back down the stairs to New Serena, the younger of the pair with a far lighter load on his heart.

Several Hours Later…

Izuku sat quietly at the counter of New Serena.

He was tired, but still couldn't sleep.

After he and Kiryu came down from the roof, they met Akiyama's friend, Tatsuo Shinada.

He was a nightlife writer in Nagoya, and a former baseball player who received a lifetime ban after being accused of stealing hand signals for a home run.

He was also the one that had told Akiyama about the plot to target the Japan Dome, after trying to borrow over 300 million yen to get Haruka's concert cancelled.

After introductions were finished between him and the other men in the room(and after Tsukauchi finished his second fanboy session of the night) they made a plan.

Shinada said that if anyone wanted to take a shot at Haruka with a rifle, they'd do it from the outfield stands. It was the only place with a clear view on the home plate, which was where the stage happened to be set up.

That narrowed down the area even further, making it so that the only viable spot would be next to the batter's eye screen.

So the plan was set. They'd head out to the Dome just before the concert started and work their way in from there.

Date and Tsukauchi would scan the crowd, and look for anyone suspicious among them, while Kiryu and Akiyama would head into the crowd and keep an eye out there.

Meanwhile, Shinada and Saejima would hide out in the outfield stands and wait for the sniper, and Izuku would sneak his way backstage and keep an be on the lookout there.

He knew both Park and Haruka personally, so if he got caught, he could explain his way out of it.

New Serena's Mama, 'Mariko-san' as she told Izuku to call her, said that everyone was free to make themselves at home.

And after the plan was set, everyone went about their business.

This led to Izuku having nothing to do until it was time to go, which wouldn't be for at least another twelve hours.

His phone was dead. It had been since he and Tsukauchi left Shizuoka. Akiyama did the kind thing and offered to charge it for him upstairs in his office, which he accepted.

Kiryu trusted the man well enough, and he trusted Kiryu's judgment.

Tsukauchi had left with Date to go make some arrangements at the station, so he wouldn't be back for a while.

Saejima and Kiryu went to go pick up some supplies from Kotobuki Drugs, and they'd been gone for hours.

Shinada went… somewhere. He wasn't quite sure what the man went off to do, he just took off, saying something about needing to stock up on gear.

Akiyama was asleep on the couch in the corner behind Izuku.

The only one that was present in the room(and conscious), besides Izuku, was Mariko.

She had been kind enough to give him a glass of juice and let him watch the TV in the bar while she cleaned.

"So, Izuku-kun, can I ask you something? "

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I told you, it's 'Mariko-san'. 'Ma'am' makes me sound far older than I am."

"Right, sorry Mariko-san. What did you wanna ask?"

"I just wanted to know how you know Kiryu-san."

"Ah, well it's because he knew my uncle. Goro-Jiji."

"Goro-jiji?"

"Ah! Sorry. Goro Majima. I call him 'Jiji' because when I was really little, I couldn't say 'Ojisan'. Even after I could, 'Jiji' just stuck. So, Goro-jiji."

"Ah, well that's cute. And your uncle introduced you to Kiryu-san?"

"Not exactly. Haruka-neechan was on a class trip to see U.A. High School in Musutafu. They toured Musutafu for a while and Kiryu took a short break to take a smoke break. I was cleaning up garbage on a beach there and we ran into each other. I was scared of him when we met, but my uncle told me he was nice. He asked him to train me and Kiryu-san said 'yes'. So I've been training with him in Okinawa every summer for the past five years."

"Well, isn't that quite a story?" She giggled slightly.

This made Izuku smile.

"Well, thank you for sharing that with me, Izuku. I've got some errands to run, but there's juice and snacks here behind the counter, so help yourself."

"Alright, thank you Mariko-san."

"Don't mention it."

She walked out the back door, and there was silence again.

Aside from the TV show playing on the television, something called Truth Man or something similar, and Akiyama's snoring.

This is gonna be a long day.

Eleven Hours Later…

"Here's your phone, Izuku-kun."

"Thanks, Akiyama-san."

He checked his phone and balked at the number of missed calls and texts from his father. He'd have to call the man back on the way to the dome, but at the moment, he just sent him text to let him know that he was fine.

"Alright, should we head on over to the Japan Dome?"

SLAM!

The backdoor slammed open suddenly and Mariko ran in, out of breath.

"We've got a problem!"

"What is it, Mariko-san?"

"The TV. Turn on the TV!"

Akiyama did as she asked and everyone in the room watched as a news bulletin appeared on the screen.

"Breaking News: just after 5:00 PM today, the Tokyo Metropolitan issued this announcement. The Millenium Tower has been seized by an unidentified group. They have taken a hostage- Goro Majima, a high-ranking member of a criminal organization known as the Tojo Clan. He is being held on the top floor. I repeat, just after 5:00 PM today..."

The rest went on to be ignored as Saejima said exactly what Izuku was thinking.

"What the fuck?"