Dark Light Chapter 3

People become heroes for a lot of reasons in this day and age, some do it because of purely altruistic reasons, others for the accolades or to accomplish a sense of achievement and even though he absolutely hated it Izuku acknowledged that there are those who do it for the money and fame. Constantly searching for heroes on the internet he's seen his fair share of scandals involving heroes (he accepted that not all heroes were as infallible as All Might).

Izuku of course fell into the former category, he never saw being a Hero as a job, or wanted any great achievement other than saving lives and putting the villains behind bars. Of course it all stemmed from watching All Might all these years, the man was more than just Izuku's idol, he was Izuku's example of how a Hero should be and while Izuku wouldn't think he could ever be as buff as All Might or smile as bright, he would do all he could to follow in the man's footsteps.

That is why it is understandable that while he was jogging back home at night as a cool down from another workout session and came upon a particular scene, he would take a particular course of action.

"YOU BITCH!" there was the sound of something hitting flesh and a body flew from the corner and crashed into the wall and slumped to the ground.

"Ugh"

Izuku's eyes widened when he saw a girl only a few years older than him, wearing a school uniform slam into the wall before him. Before he could get a good look at her, someone else stomped into view, he was a teenaged yakuza type with a nasty Quirk to match. Sharp needle-like quills jutted all over his body. They went through his tank top and jeans leaving them full of pin sized holes on his body.

The man didn't seem to notice Izuku who was still frozen in shock as he addressed the girl "you think you could get the drop on me huh?" he fired off some quills from his wrist at the girl causing her to yelp.

That was the last draw for Izuku.

"I'm gonna kill yo-huh?" before he could finish his sentence a glowing yellow orb dropped at his feet "what in the hell-"

*Boom*

The concussive blast sent the man flying a few feet away where he landed painfully on his back. Izuku took that chance to run into the fray a shadow tendril wrapped around the recovering thugs leg and Izuku tossed him to the side of a wall. When the thug didn't get up Izuku went to check on the girl who could only stare at him with an expression foreign to him.

"A-are you okay?"

Her eyes trailed down and Izuku followed before cringing and mentally chiding himself for the dumb question. Two long quils were embedded in her body, one in her shoulder and another in her forearm which she slowly pulled out with a grunt.

Izuku felt sick seeing the blood flowing from the wounds and fumbled for his phone. He needed to call the police but first he'll call an ambulance to get her taken care of. Before he could even get the third number dialed a scream tore through his mouth and caused him to drop the phone. Izuku staggered at the white hot pain that erupted in his back.

He cried again when another kind of pain laced at his shoulder and finally another at his leg which caused him to finally drop to his knees. Shakily he looked behind him to see the red faced teenagers outstretched hand, he had a bruise on his face.

"You piece of shit!"

It almost made Izuku lock up in terror but a glance at the girl caused him to keep it at bay and stagger to his feet. That's when a kick to his side knocked the air out of him, he ended up landing on his back but rolled over to his side and clutched his stomach in a fetal position. He yelped when the teen stomped painfully on his side

"Who the hell are you?"

Izuku coughed for a response and tried to shift his body to protect his head.

"You with that bitch huh?"

Izuku was lifted up to come face to face with his attacker "you her boyfriend or something, come to help her take me out?"

Izuku had no idea what he was talking about and he didn't care as small quills poked out his face and he delivered a brutally painful headbutt. Izuku's entire mind exploded in pain and in reflex he formed a pair of light balls in his palms and shoved them into the attacker's chest. There was a blinding light and the attacker's scream of pain was drowned out by the ensuing explosion that blasted them apart.

Izuku landed on his back and consequently the quills embedded there but they were at best a nuisance compared to the damage to his face and the concussive shockwave of the blast. For a moment Izuku couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything and the only thing he felt was pain then darkness.

Literally, he started to subconsciously draw on the dark side of his powers, he wanted the pain gone, he wanted it to stop and slowly the pain numbed like running water over a burn. It was soothing and after a moment he gathered his bearings and staggered to his feet. He blinked a few times to get his vision straight and saw the man with his shirt now burnt getting up as well.

"You" he snarled "I'm gonna kill you for tha-aah"

Izuku cut him off with a well placed tendril wrapped around his foot and started slamming him into the ground

*Bam*

*Crash*

*Slam*

He paused then slammed him down two more times just to make sure he stayed down (fact: people with transmutation Quirks tend to be more durable).

*Pant*

*Pant*

Izuku took a tentative step forward but drop to a knee when a spike of pain shot up his leg 'oh right, he got me in the leg'

Izuku willed it and darkness covered his leg and he watched a little fascinated as the quill was push out of his skin, he will be writing that tidbit down, he did the same to the others before breathing a sigh of relief.

Then he remembered the girl and his gaze reached her "hey-" only to find that she was gone.

'When did she leave? How did she leave with that wound?'

Izuku wasn't a medical expert but he's pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to slip away so silently with wounds like that.

Was her Quirk some kind of healing ability?

That still doesn't explain why she left but after thinking about it for a moment he shook his head and limped over to his phone.

"911 what is your emergency?"

\

"Izuku!"

Inko opened the door to see her son lying in the hospital bed looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Rather than watch his expression she took stock of the bandages covering his face hand and leg.

"M-mom, i-it's really not as bad as it looks-"

It was far too late for reassurance though "waaah, my baby!"

Inko crossed the room so fast people would be mistaken about her Quirk and Izuku soon found himself smothered in a hug.

After a moment of wailing came the rapid fire questions "are you alright? Who did this to you? How did this happen?"

"I would like to know the same thing as well"

Mother and son turned to see a man in a trench coat take off his hat as he closed the door, he had a friendly, if plain, face as he regarded them.

"Who might you be?" Inko asked and Izuku felt her clutch him just a little tighter.

"My name is officer Tsukauchi."

"I already answered some questions sir."

"I know, I'm not here to ask about the fight rather I would like know the identity of the girl you allegedly saved."

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know her, she left before I could talk to her."

The man took out a notepad "you said she was injured?"

"Oh yeah, he um got her in the leg with one of his quills"

"About this girl, you said that she wore a school uniform right?"

"Yeah" Izuku nodded.

At his grave expression Inko asked "what is it?"

"Over the past month there has been a reported increase in the number of assaults in that region. The victims were all teenage boys and the one thing they all had in common was that the perpetrator was a young girl in a school uniform. Sound familiar?"

Izuku sputtered in shocked confusion "b-b-but I, I saw her get attacked!"

"According to Yamaha, the boy you fought, he said she was the one to attack him first with a box cutter and that he was acting in self defense. He had defensive wounds on his hands which supports his story. Now I'm not saying that Yamaha is an innocent however based on the evidence presented he was the victim in this instance."

Inko turned a worried glance to her son "Izuku..."

He didn't hear her and looked away reeling from the news "I let a villain get away" he mumbled but it was clearly heard by the other occupants of the room.

"It was an honest mistake, really. You saw a 'defenseless girl' being attacked and you assumed what any other person would" Izuku didn't respond "what were you doing out there anyway?"

"...I was training"

"You want to be a hero don't you?" at Izuku's nod he chuckled a little "I'm not surprised, a lot of kids these days want to be heroes" he frowned a little "it's not my place to judge but you should be careful about what your expectations are. Being a Hero isn't as glamorous as some make it to be. There is a fine line between bravery and recklessness, not to say that taking a decisive action is necessarily bad but it's always best to think things through before you act."

Izuku was still silent but now he was looking at the officer.

"Is there anything else sir?"

"Hmm, no I just wanted to warn you to be careful. We don't know how this person operates so it's best to go home earlier from now on."

\

Needless to say the entire ordeal had Izuku question himself. His keen yet still young analytical mind that would be used to observe others was now turned inwards as he introspected. He had always prided himself on being a person who thinks things through except he didn't, not this time around and admittedly this wasn't the first time something like this happened.

Well it was his first life and death situation, but it felt eerily familiar. He'd spent a good portion of the following day thinking about it and he found the connection. He could distantly remember the first time his Quirk manifested. He was actually shocked it took him so long to make the connection as that day was ingrained in his mind in perfect clarity.

Just like that time he rushed into a confrontation without thinking it through and got himself beaten up for it. Instead of say, calling an adult over to break up the fight, he went to fight himself despite knowing he didn't have a chance.

Did he regret his decision?

No he did not and it wasn't because the action resulted in his Quirk manifesting. The regret was that he didn't even consider an alternative and not just tattling so someone else could deal with it. He literally had no plan aside from getting in front of Kacchan and hoping things work out.

It was the same this time around, Izuku's body reacted before his brain could think of anything and by the time it caught up he had already thrown a light grenade.

Why did that happen?

The first time around he manifested his Quirk but he still ended up taking a beating from Kacchan not to mention ending up on the boy's personal shitlist for the years to come.

This time he prevented someone from getting killed but in the act he got a beating (again), beat up the apparent victim (even though he deserved it), let the bad guy-er girl free to assault more people and ended up on some guy's personal shit list, again.

He didn't regret his decision but the fact that he didn't even bother to consider making an actual plan bothered him the most. Who knows what that girl would have done if she wasn't injured?

He shivered thinking about it.

\

Izuku had to put off training for a week in order to allow his wounds to heal which took roughly two days with his accelerated healing factor but decided to take a few extra days to ease his mother's worry. Izuku wasn't upset by that, he too was worried and there weren't any late night assaults which could be both good and bad at the same time.

Eventually though Izuku got a little stir crazy with so much free time after developing his schedule to include training. He managed to get his mother to acquiesce for the weekends at the very least since the girl apparently operated on school nights.

It was a start.

So it was with that, Izuku made his way to the seaside park training ground. Compared to when he found it, there were few garbage bags around, somewhere last year he decided to make his training something of a public service, especially since his stronger light attacks tend to leave nothing but easily cleanable scorch marks.

Even now he could see the soot marks on the sand from the times a light grenade exploded taking along a few years of waste. As of now mostly scrap metal too tough to be incinerated was left. To his left was a rusted old open-back truck piled with various scrap metal he heaped on via shadow manipulation.

Or was it darkness manipulation? Sometimes he got the two mixed up considering his shadow is a form of darkness.

He blew a breath "okay, let's get started."

Immediately he dropped and started doing 50 push-ups, sit-ups and squats. It took him a while but eventually he formulated a workout routine that maximizes not only his physical exercise but also his Quirk usage, taking into consideration the extra energy afforded to him via solar absorption and night augmentation.

After the not-too intense physical workout he went on with practicing with his Quirk. He would like to think he was now comfortable with his dual powers though he knew he was far from mastering them.

For what he knew of his Quirk from experience was that his light powers are dependent heavily on his physical state, the more fit he was the more he will be able to use it. Overuse would result in physical exhaustion that could (and did) result in him passing out.

For his dark powers it's naturally stronger at night and is dependent on his intelligence and also his emotional state. He found out the latter part after he attempted to 'overuse' it (in the day of course). He thought he would get something like a massive headache but instead he got more aggressive, pessimistic and moody. Another thing he noted was although the darkness became weaker the more it's used, the quality improved as his mind descended. In the end he had enough semblance to switch over to his light powers and filter out the excess angst.

That was an experience.

Now that the thought had come up he couldn't help but compare the two powers though to be honest there isn't much of a comparison other than the fact he could generate them out of thin air. They both handled differently causing Izuku to take different approaches with them.

He could produce light like a flash, explosive and (in theory) blast it like a laser (though he hadn't been able to yet (the most he could do was a close range scatter blast reminiscent of a sawed-off shotgun). As for darkness he could manipulate it into objects or move it into an attack. He can't 'blast' darkness but he can shroud things like a net and levitate them.

This time around as an experiment he will attempt to manifest them both at once. To be honest he was very reluctant to do this but depending on the result he'd want to know what could happen. Izuku was curious enough to want to explore everything he can about his very unique Quirk, after all, the more you know.

He held up his palms and gulped "please don't go wrong" with that he manifested a light orb in one palm and attempted to summon a dark ball in the other.

Already he could feel a kind of strain, his temperature fluctuated a little and a bead of sweat rolled down his face. It was like his body was attempting to pull to one of the two opposing forces but he kept it even. Then something unexpected happened, the two orbs started pulling together.

Izuku strained further as his hands were compelled closer until the orbs combined above his cupped hands. At this point Izuku was panting but he ignored the fatigue to stare at the pure black ball with a glowing white centre.

Izuku was in complete awe of his creation, a wide smile split his face "I did it!"

*Crack*

The smile vanished as a crack appeared trailing light veins on one side of the black marble. Another crack occurred this time within the light marble spilling black veins. At that point Izuku knew his control was slipping and thinking fast he tossed the ball near the truck.

Amazingly it rolled underneath it and Izuku ran behind garbage cover to brace himself for the mother of all explosions.

But none came and instead he was treated to a short hum then silence. After a moment he lifted his head from cover to view the result of the power breakdown. His jaw promptly dropped at the sight or rather a lack thereof as most of the truck was gone.

The sand and part of the front of the truck had a curve. It was as if a perfect sphere was carved through the truck. Izuku had a good idea what exactly happened, he approached the truck to get a closer look and even touch the groove of the newly carved truck.

It was a perfectly smooth curve, it was as if it was designed like that "amazing" there were no marks, no burns, no smell, if Izuku's didn't know what it looked like before he would've that it was some weird piece of abstract art.

No doubt it was dangerous and taxing yet Izuku couldn't help but want to try again, but first

'I need to write this down'

He turned around and got his book "fusion of dark and light powers a success, will have to try again with adjusted power" he paused "and think of possible name."

That was his favorite part, naming special attacks.

"Wow~"

Izuku tensed and spun around to see a girl with her back turned observing the truck. Then she spun around with hands relaxed behind her back, feet rocking slightly, cat like eyes zeroed on him as a small smile adorned her face that also had a healthy flush.

"That was really cool! So, you working on your Quirk?"

Izuku could only stare at her gobsmacked wondering who she was, how and when she got there and 'is she talking to me?'

On instinct he looked behind him just to see if by some incredible coincidence that someone was behind him. No one was there and Izuku turned to see her looking right at him with a fusion of amusement and something that was foreign to him.

Girls don't really talk to him willingly except his mother and he wasn't pining for attention either considering how utterly terrible he was with dealing with them.

Case in point

"Uh..."

"You don't have to answer that, I could tell" she stage whispered.

Was it just him or was she blushing?

Izuku began sputtering but was silenced as she continued "I never saw a Quirk that could do that before" she traced the contours of the truck "what kind of Quirk is it anyway?" She eyed him curiously.

Izuku blinked at the question to really get a good at her, then remembered his earlier thoughts "y-you were w-w-watching m-me?"

She stared for a moment before her eyes crinkled "yeah I couldn't help but notice how cool you look back there."

'A girl called me cool' they both turned even more red though Izuku's was a few shades deeper.

"I-It was nothing" he managed to squeak out.

"That's not true, I think you're interesting" and she meant it he could tell.

He averted his gaze, he never thought it would be so difficult to take a compliment from a girl.

"T-thanks...um"

"Himiko Toga"

"M-Midoriya Izu-Izuku."

Her smile widened "Izuku"

Izuku tugged at his collar 'is it getting warmer?'

"Himiko-san."

The girl pouted "that's not fair Izuku, you shouldn't use any honorific either."

Izuku began to panic a little when she began advancing on him, he almost took a step back.

She leaned down too close for Izuku's comfort, peered into his eyes and said "now say my name, 'To-ga'."

"H-hai Hi-I mean Toga-san"

She smiled again and Izuku felt a chill down his spine, instincts took over and this time he did take a step back

"I have to go!" he still had two hours but he didn't think he would be able to concentrate with her there.

The disappointment was clear on her face "already, I thought you had more time."

"I promised my mom I would go home early" that early was still two hours away but she didn't need to know that.

Toga shrugged "guess it can't be helped then" she smiled "see you next time izuku."

"Y-yeah" he said awkwardly and walked away a little faster than necessary.

\

The next day Izuku arrived at the seaside park to see a familiar face.

"H-Himiko-san?"

Again the girl pouted "I told you before Izuku, it's Toga, just Toga"

"I..."

"Is it really that hard to say my name?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Izuku averted his gaze and mumbled something

"Hm?"

"But we just met yesterday" he argued, surprised he didn't stutter.

"Then I guess we'll just have to get to know each other Izuku."

"W-we will?"

She gave an impish grin showing her pointed canines "yep you'll get to know stuff about me and" she paused to look at him with slightly glazed eyes "I'll learn everything about you."

For some reason that declaration had Izuku nervous and not in the embarrassed way.

Before he could speak she turned around "come on I'll help you train."

Izuku stood where he was for a moment. He may not have much experience talking to girls but he knew a set up when he saw one and for whatever reason he couldn't help but feel she had an ulterior motive.

\

So it was with that Izuku spent the day with the taller girl and true to her word, she did help him...in her own way which was mostly keeping his mind distracted from the pain of his labor with her never ending chatter while keeping count.

Even though he hung onto his suspicion like a life raft out at the raging sea that was Himiko Toga there was something fresh about having a girl cheering him on. He'd always heard about how that could have an effect on guys but didn't believe it. The proof was in the pudding when he didn't even notice he did twenty extra push-ups, sit-ups and squats.

Yet he still had enough energy to do Quirk training, speaking of which it was during the middle of said training that Himiko decided to ask.

"Have you ever been in a fight?"

Izuku paused the shadow did as well "um a few times, why?"

He's been in 'a few' fights but had a record going for the one-sided beatdowns.

"Well I think if you're preparing to be a hero you should know how to fight"

"I know how to fight" he defended remembering his time against Yamaha the porcupine.

Toga's expression was unreadable before she said "show me."

"...eh?"

She got up from where she sat and approached him "show me how you fight."

"I-I can't"

"Why?"

Izuku sputtered for a moment trying to find the words "y-you could get hurt"

Toga's response was to laugh much to his confusion "don't worry about me Izuku, I can take care of myself."

"But-"

"Izuku" she interrupted "do you want to hurt me?"

"No!" he answered immediately.

She tilted her head, expression unreadable "that's too bad cause I definitely want to hurt you!"

*Shing*

At the end Himiko gave a deranged smile and produced a box cutter out of nowhere before charging at the stunned teen.

Izuku stepped back and tripped over his feet as Himiko slashed. He landed on his rear and felt his cheek, drawing back his hand he saw blood. The wound itself was shallow enough to heal in the sunlight and Toga smiled wider as she continued the assault straddling him

"You're so cool Izuku, I bet you'd look even cooler covered in blood!"

Just as she stabbed down there was a bright light and she flew off and landed a few feet away "owie" she sat up to see a panic stricken boy with two light orbs in each palm.

She stared at him for a minute before bonking her head "oops, I guess I overdid it" she got up and dusted her skirt before clasping her hands and bowing "sorry for freaking you out like that, I saw a villain do that once and I thought it would look believable if I tried since I'm a 'villain' but I got into it a little too much" she gave an awkward chuckle.

Izuku didn't move but after a moment of staring at her bashful form, she fidgeted awkwardly and the light orbs dissipated.

"Are you okay?"

"…yeah"

"I'm really sorry"

"It's okay" was the automatic response but Izuku wasn't okay, he was so far from okay that he reached orbit.

Cautiously he walked over to his bag making sure to keep her in his line of sight "I have to go" he mumbled already getting his bag.

"Oh I understand" she smiled at him but Izuku was too shell shocked to get flustered by it.

He walked away briskly "bye" he turned to see her give a jaunty wave which Izuku tentatively returned before walking out of view and running the rest of the way home.

The moment he left her eyes glazed over a little and her smile widened before bringing the box cutter to her face and after admiring the red liquid smeared on it she dragged her tongue over the blade and licked up the speckle of blood before shuddering in ecstasy.

Cupping her cheeks to fight down the growing blush her glazed over eyes looked to the moon as she whispered "catch you later I~zu~ku~"

To Be Continued


Author's Notes: Izuku's training continues and he gets into his second combat situation and a wakeup call. I'm trying to change Izuku gradually by introducing him into different situations that will alter his perspective. I won't make integral changes to his character (ie his selflessness and sense of justice) just because he has a Quirk, that just won't do, Izuku just wouldn't be your typical shonen protagonist without recklessly throwing his life away in order to help someone in need which I think is pretty stupid but for Izuku he didn't regret it but he'll at least have a plan rather than relying on his luck.

On another note I am such a sucker for Yandere girls and Toga's cute. Seriously on a scale of my favorite Izuku ship Ochako and Toga are neck and neck and it has nothing to do with them being the only girls to show a romantic interest in him. Honestly I think it would be pretty interesting to write how these two would have interacted if they met earlier, why not? If TubbsTheCat did it for Tomura I sure as hell can do it for Toga without it being purely romantic, seriously I have plans for both of them that are inherent for a growth in their character.

And for those who worry Izuku is growing a bit too much just remember, Izuku is basically in the same position as he is in canon, except:

He has a three year head start with his Quirk

Said Quirk is more manageable

He has more free range for originality (since it's not All Might's Quirk and he doesn't have the option of copying him).