Chapter Seven

Fire and Ice

"Get off the fucking phone," Dabi stretched out the words in exasperation as he approached, two coffees in hand. "This isn't social hour."

Yuki spared him a glance before turning away again, pacing back to the telephone pole. She realized she'd been on the phone since he left to get coffee fifteen minutes ago, but it wasn't like she could just hang up. Dabi could wait his turn.

Ito Daisuke had spent the last fifteen minutes explaining that Sato Miyoko would do the interview, listed all the reasons why she would do it, and exactly what this would mean for her image. Yuki had barely been able to get a word in edgewise, except for the occasional murmur that she was still listening.

"I'll send over the details tomorrow morning," he said, finally drawing the conversation to a close as Yuki reached the telephone pole and turned to pace back toward where Dabi stood in the alley. He sipped on his coffee, and even in the dark she see that he was watching her with hooded eyes and an expression she couldn't decipher. Yuki exchanged goodbyes with Ito, then pocketed her phone.

"What'd your boyfriend want?" Dabi asked as Yuki took the cup from him.

"To steal my soul and sell it to the gods," Yuki replied before taking a sip and flinching away immediately.

"Careful, it's hot," Dabi drawled a beat too late as she glared at him. "What the fuck does that even mean?"

"That was Miyoko's lawyer," Yuki replied to his first question, instead, wrapping her hands around the warm cup. She could easily bring the temperature down, but decided against it.

"You mean your lawyer." Dabi took another sip of his coffee. Both cups were steaming, which meant his was just as hot as hers. Stupid fire quirk.

"He wants an interview."

"Why?"

"Notoriety."

His eyes rolled. "You're worse than the psycho."

Yuki hadn't spent much time around Dabi yet, but she had been listening enough to know he meant Toga. She also hadn't spent much time around Toga yet, but that description seemed to fit.

They had about thirty minutes before they needed to start moving, as she understood it. Dabi had mentioned he had someone they were meeting around nine, but hadn't provided any details other than that.

"So is the cat always like that?" His voice broke through her thoughts, snapping her attention back to him. The cat-?

"Oh, you mean, Isane? She's always been quiet," Yuki said, shrugging. "She's just a quiet person."

"Spinner's quiet," he remarked. "She's… intense."

"She's always been a quiet person." Yuki tried to be firm, hoping Dabi would take the hint. Yes, Isane was quiet. She was reliable, though. She was steady. She had always been someone that Yuki could lean on when things got rough, which they seemed to do frequently for the last several years. Isane had been there at Yuki's side through some of the worst weeks of her life. She always approached things with a rational mind, unlike herself; Yuki knew she could be rash, as much as she hated it.

Isane never shared anything personal about herself, and when she did, it was rare. Those little details were always a gift. The things that Yuki knew about Isane's personal life could be counted on a single hand: she'd been raised by her grandparents and uncles, but Yuki didn't know their names. Isane had been with the Shie Hassaikai before coming to find her some eighteen months previously, more broken than Yuki had ever known her to be. She didn't know Isane's history with them, or how long she'd been with them, but knew they had been important to her. Something had happened to cause her to leave, but what that something was, Yuki had no idea. Yuki also knew that Isane's mother had abandoned Isane young, and still wanted nothing to do with her. Or at least, as far as Yuki knew.

Sometimes, Yuki saw her clutching papers and smiling to herself, when she thought no one was looking. The kind of smile that could only be brought out by a lover.

Isane often had nightmares. She couldn't fall asleep around strangers, and distrusted strangers, too, which always annoyed Yuki. It took Isane twice as long as anyone else to warm up to new people.

Isane was a well of secrets, deep as the ocean, but Yuki knew they weren't her secrets to tell. Isane had protected her through some of her worst moments. The smallest way Yuki could repay Isane was to not talk about those secrets.

Dabi didn't catch on. "She doesn't look like she relaxes. She's going to shave years off her life."

It was time for this conversation topic to end. "Says the guy who sizzles his skin every night." She said with a wicked grin. "You do have a skincare routine, right?"

"Don't change the subject," he growled. Especially don't change it to him, was what he didn't say.

"Isane is Isane," Yuki replied. "She's serious. Keeps to herself, mostly. She knows her stuff, though. She's kept us alive, which is more than I can say for Death Quake."

"Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"Hopefully not," she replied, finally lifting her cup to her lips to take a sip. It had reached a temperature that wouldn't scald her.

"Then why even bring it up?" Dabi looked like he wanted to throttle her, so she winked, which only raised his ire.

"How'd you two even end up together?"

If he wasn't going to take her hints and drop this subject, she'd force him to. "A bridge and udon," she replied cryptically.

"That's not a fucking answer."

"Depends on how you take it." She shrugged. "So, what's the plan for tonight?"

Ninety minutes later and they were standing across the street from Nana's, a bar so smoky it spilled out onto the street. Even from where they stood Yuki could smell the cigarettes inside.

Dabi had explained when she asked, "I've got a couple of guys meeting us over at Nana's. They're interested in joining the League."

"Do we know their quirks?"

"One of them can turn his fingers into vines, and the other is strong. Kato and Suzuki. I don't know their quirk names."

"Crimes?"

"Kato's got some theft, mostly robberies. Suzuki's got assault on his name and a couple of murders. Nothing we haven't dealt with before." He seemed pensive before he furrowed his brows. "I've been trying to reach them for weeks and only recently have they responded. I didn't know they even knew each other."

"So be on our toes," Yuki had said, more of a statement than a question, as she finished her coffee and pulled up her mask.

"Yeah. No idea what we're going to find."

They'd been watching the bar for only about ten minutes; Dabi seemed to be familiar with it. He wasn't nearly as tense as he had been when she'd met him in the alley before. And as they stood there watching the bar, Yuki noted that most people who went in kept glancing over their shoulders before slipping through the door.

Yuki watched Dabi. It was only their second day out in the field as partners, and they really had zero experience in working together as a team. Their field trip to the bank the week before didn't count.

He moved without any indication to her. Shoulders slumped and hands shoved in his pockets, he crossed the street and slipped through the door, Yuki on his heels.

Inside, the lighting was low and streaming through smoke so thick it was difficult to breathe. Tables were scattered about, and booths lined the walls. Patrons milled about. Most of those at the bar already had a few glasses in front of them, all empty. Dabi didn't waste time scanning the room for Kato or Suzuki. He bee-lined straight for a booth at the back. The dividers between the booths were tall and wide, with plenty of space between them so others wouldn't be able to overhear conversations.

Dabi stepped back, briefly, for Yuki to slide into the booth before he followed. His leg pressed up against hers as they faced the two men; there wasn't a lot of room in the seats.

One, presumably Kato, had scarring around his fingers so severe it was visible even in the low light. His narrow face, long nose, and sharp eyes gave him the appearance of being constantly disapproving. Suzuki was all bulk, muscles flexing through his tattered t-shirt.

"'Bout time you made it," Suzuki growled.

"What are you talking about? We're right on time," Dabi replied, glancing between the two men. Yuki's attention remained on Kato, who studied her with an unblinking gaze, muttering something under his breath. Mentally, she checked to make sure her mask was pulled up all the way. "So you want to join the League. Why now? I've been contacting you for weeks," Dabi continued.

"Now seems like a better opportunity," Suzuki replied with a shrug. Yuki glanced toward him, eyes hard and keeping her expression blank. Whatever her face did would show up in her eyes.

"What do you mean, 'now'?" Dabi asked, leaning forward. His arms braced against the table. Across the top carvings were etched into the wood, worn smooth by years and years of use.

"The League is growing," Suzuki said, sparing a glance and crooked grin at Yuki before turning his attention back to Dabi. He was missing a few teeth.

Suzuki said something else, but Yuki's attention was caught by Kato when she heard him mutter, "From what I've tasted of desire-"

A shiver rose up her spine and her stomach dropped. The words were familiar, but how? Something about Kato just felt off.

"-and we want to be part of it." Suzuki paused. "Since when do you have a Plus One?"

"Boss' orders."

"I thought you only work alone." Suzuki didn't bother to wait for Dabi to reply, this time turning directly to Yuki. "You're Yuki, the ice villain, aren't you?"

"-I think I know enough of hate-" Dabi's attention snapped to Kato.

"Aren't you wanted?" Suzuki asked innocently.

Yuki leaned forward to meet him. "Aren't we all at this table?"

"No," the man growled. "No, you're the one who abducted and tortured that lady for three days. They found her body in Azabu. The media said that the wounds that were inflicted on her were some of the worst they had seen in a decade."

"-To say that for destruction of ice is also great, and would suffice."

Kato was quoting Robert Frost.

"Your bounty is one of the highest in Japan."

Yuki became very aware of the fact that they were sitting in a booth in the back of Nana's.

She was also very aware of how most of the patrons near where they sat didn't seem to be talking. Most were scrolling on their phones, but not in a way that said they were paying attention to what they were looking at.

They were listening.

A million escape plans flew through Yuki's mind in the span of ten seconds. Adrenaline pumped as the pieces came together and she realized just what kind of situation she was in. Focus sharpening, she felt Dabi tense beside her. At least he was putting it together, too.

No one breathed.

Suzuki lunged toward Dabi as he flipped the table with a burst of flame. Yuki propelled herself backwards and up, to land on the divider between the booths. From her vantage point, she shot several ice blasts toward the men who rushed toward them. The ice pierced their chests, dropping them immediately.

Kato recovered first and stretched his hand toward Dabi, who's attention was on Suzuki. Yuki fired a blast toward him, ice piercing and severing his vines. It was enough. A shard of ice was left in his vines, she knew, and she focused on that shard, growing it and sending it up to his physical body.

He let out a strangled cry as his hand, then his arm, and his upper arm turned black with frostbite.

Yuki was quick with it and once it reached his heart he crumpled. Dabi had finished with Suzuki and rounded on the others closing in around them, wall of flame surrounding them as a protective barrier.

However, one of the bartenders had come out from the bar, hands outstretched toward Dabi's flames, which were decreasing in size.

Cursing, Yuki hopped down from her perch, and swiped ice toward the bartender to break is focus and driving back the other patrons. Grabbing at Dabi's sleeve, they bolted for the door, and once they were out in the cool night air, kept running for a couple of blocks.

Yuki could have kept running, but Dabi was struggling to keep up. Beyond that, as they slowed, his chest heaved with the effort to breathe. Yuki realized several feet too late that he had stopped next to a man hole cover. She quickly raced back to him and helped him hoist it up and move it over enough for them to both slip down the ladder. Yuki pulled it back over their escape route as she could hear a commotion and yelling growing closer.

Dropping next to him on the landing below, he held a small blue flame in his hand between them, the light casting sharp shadows across their faces. They both tried to control their breathing, straining their ears and listening for the commotion on the surface.

Men and women were yelling above, and sirens blared, passing quickly as they rushed to the destruction they had left behind in Nana's.

With the small flame in Dabi's hand, the light didn't extend beyond their faces, leaving Dabi's face to watch in lieu of staring into the darkness around them. His scarred face looked like something out of a horror movie, and his piercings caught the light in a grim and horrifying way.

Yuki didn't dare breathe for several minutes until the commotion above them slipped away. Until they could no longer hear voices yelling and could only hear the sirens in the distance. They stayed standing like that for a long while after, still. Like neither knew how to break the silence.

Dabi was the first to speak, voice strained and rough. "Torture and murder, huh?" He chuckled once with a shake of his head. Stepping away from her, his flame grew until they could both see the tunnel they found themselves in. "What a surprise."

Notes: National Novel Writing Month begins today, so I'll be focusing on my Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction, On Dating a Demon, during that time. If you like YYH, check out On Dating a Demon! It's a Hiei/OC fic and it's got Red String of Fate themes, it has a temporal paradox, and a multi-world war. It's also my Long Fic, and with it currently clocking in at 220,000 words, so it has plenty to binge-read.

I've got half of chapter 8 of Kintsukuroi already written, so I'm going to try to post both chapters 8 and 9 in December, and then in January I move, so I won't post chapter 10 until after that's done. Just to kind of give you all a timeline for future updates. In the meantime, I may still post updates in Nothing but Stardust since the chapters are short (if FFnet ever lets me post that story, I will post it. It is on my AO3, however).

I do not own, in any way, the characters, places, or ideas of the My Hero Academia universe created by Kohei Horikoshi. I only own my own characters and plot. No money is made off of this story.