They spent the following week on the road.

The first day had been a tad bit chaotic since the beginning. Izuku had woken up from a nightmare at some point before sunrise and it had taken him almost an hour to fall back asleep. He'd written about random things in the dark just to calm himself down and the whole time he'd been aware of Stain keeping watch in silence.

Between his many rambled notes were the words " Does Stain even sleep?"

He managed to fall asleep for another forty minutes before his teacher unceremoniously woke him up with an apple to the head.

They were headed west and had the plan of walking past a couple of cities before reaching their next destination.

"You can't go city by city in order or they'll be expecting you." Stain had explained.

They walked for about three hours through trees and over fallen logs and then, as Stain saw fit, they would stop for an hour to train before they trekked further on. For the first time since they met, Stain suggested that they had to make sure Izuku could control his reflexes properly, made the teen stand against a wide tree, and had proceeded to throw knives at Izuku until he could keep his eyes open and not flinch.

For the rest of the afternoon, they would stop at random and Stain would repeat the process.

"You can't panic at every little thing." Stain had said, landing a knife so close to Izuku's face that the teen wasn't sure how it hadn't hit him. Every time he as much as blinked when the knife was coming his way, Stain would throw two more in quick succession.

At other points, Stain would tell Izuku to pick up stones and put them in his backpack until, little by little, the weight on his shoulders got almost impossible to carry. Stain himself would pick up pieces of wood to carry, but he was under no circumstance struggling as much as Izuku was.

And then, at other moments, Stain would have Izuku punch one of the small dead trees around them until he could make some type of visible damage.

When the sun had been at its highest Izuku had felt like he was going to pass out and had asked if they could slow down a bit for the rest of the day. He had to add another big stone to his backpack for that. But even so, they settled for walking slower after that and only trained once more before sunset.

They chose a place next to a fallen tree to rest for the next three hours.

"Get a fire going." Stain had instructed Izuku and, after a few failed attempts, the teen managed to get a stable flame with his box of matches and the wood Stain had been carrying around all day.

The small fire had warmed Izuku pleasantly, his aching muscles enjoying the pause from activity. While he waited for Stain to return, he looked inside his backpack and took inventory of his few possessions. He had his 14th notebook, a handful of pens, his class notes, a box of matches, his phone (dead at this point), his wallet, 500 yen, one textbook, and his school uniform.

That was it. He hadn't expected to leave his house all of a sudden, so he had nothing useful. He wondered what Stain was carrying around in that old cooler of his. He had some water and some food, even some knives, but Izuku hadn't seen anything else thus far. He was tempted to open the plastic container but decided against it. As far as he knew, Stain hadn't rummaged through his things, so it'd be rude to snoop around.

He laid back and waited, enjoying the peace. He could hear the highway off in the distance and the sounds of nature around him. He wondered how much they'd traveled up to that point.

He must have dozed off because he jumped back to consciousness when Stain returned with a few dead birds in his hands. They plucked the small animals and cooked them over the fire. The stars were starting to shine when they finished eating and Stain spoke.

"You should burn anything that's not useful. Like your uniform."

Izuku had blinked. Of course, if anyone found those things they might get a clue as to where Stain and him were headed. He emptied his bag, its contents tumbling onto the ground, and he got to work.

His uniform had been easy to burn, the fabric catching fire in a second, and so were his class notes and textbook. His phone would probably not burn as easily and so he smashed it with one of the stones he'd brought along. As much as it pained him, if that thing came back to life for whatever reason it would be tracked.

And then there was his wallet. He took out the little cash he had and stored it in his shoe, but he hesitated before throwing the object in the fire. He had a few cards along with a picture of him and his mom from when he was much younger. He couldn't have been more than five in the photo and his mom and him were hugging tightly. He didn't remember where the picture had been taken or who had snapped it, but he couldn't stop staring.

He could feel Stain's eyes burning into him. With what he'd told the teen last night in mind, Izuku closed his wallet forcefully and, after a long moment, threw it into the flames. He watched the cheap plastic burn a neon green color for a few minutes before it turned into an unrecognizable piece of charred nothing. The other man said nothing.

Izuku managed to sleep for two hours before they started moving again, and the day pretty much reset. They walked closer to the highway while the sun was down and by six in the morning, Izuku could see the beginnings of a city start appear in the distance. But they walked right past, headed even further west.

Their schedule went something like this: they trained for over an hour, walked for three, and rested twice a day. Izuku's hands were filling up with blisters and his legs ached constantly, but he managed through it all. It wasn't terrible; most of the time he just had to walk.

The rest of the week went by in a similar pattern: sleeping, eating, walking, and training. As usual, Stain was mostly silent during their walks and he offered little chat while they were resting, but Izuku got him to talk a few times.

"Stain?" Izuku had asked the third night, their little fire dancing at his feet.

"What?"

"Can I… ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you ever… get... lonely, doing what you do?" His voice got lower and lower with every word, his face hidden between his knees. Had he just asked a serial killer about his feelings?

The silence was deafening and he could imagine Stain's face. Izuku was about ready to run into the woods and never come back out when he heard a long sigh.

"When I was your age I did. It was around that time that I realized that people don't care about words and that I had to take action to be heard."

"Oh..."

" Oh?" Stain echoed, brow raised. Izuku immediately started babbling.

"Well, I-I didn't know what else to say! I was just curious! I didn't mean t-to sound judgemental or anything!"

"Kid, breathe."

"...Sorry."

Two days later, after one of their morning training sessions, Izuku had tried to strike up a conversation again. He was walking behind Stain, his bag heavy with both stones and wood. Something on Stain's back had caught his attention.

"Stain?"

"Yes?"

"Where did you get your katana?"

"I got it when I was sixteen." Stain said, sounding a bit thoughtful. "I bought it at a pawn shop. Made my first kill with it."

"I, uh…" Izuku really had a knack for asking questions with hard answers, didn't he?

"Why, do you want one?" Stain had asked over his shoulder. Did he sound amused? No, that couldn't be it. Izuku couldn't see the other man's face, but he couldn't imagine Stain with an easy-going smile. He must have imagined it.

"You think I could use one?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself." And there was the familiar, colder tone. Izuku sighed.

The next two days went by in a blur. Izuku risked a few more questions here and there, but he got lukewarm answers most of the time. Unless he was speaking about his philosophy, Stain was a rather silent individual. At first, that had unnerved the teen. He was never sure of what Stain was thinking, or if the man was planning something or not. But by the end of that week on the move, he had started finding some solace in the silence. He had time to focus on his training and he had an easier time sleeping.

He was still having nightmares, but they woke him up less violently with each passing night. He assumed the training left him too tired to even dream.

Finally, a week since they'd left Izuku's city, they made it to their next objective. Izuku had never been to Okazaki before and maybe in another time, he would have been dying to explore the whole city. But right now, tired, hungry, and soaking wet from the rain, he wanted nothing more than to sleep.

They were still far from the city center, but houses and small buildings were beginning to become usual. The sky was falling upon their heads, clouds covering the stars. They only had a few street lights to light their way through the darkened streets.

Stain picked an abandoned house that was only still standing because God wanted it to. They jumped the fence and got inside. The roof was caved in on one side of the house, part of the wall gone, but the furthest corner from the entrance was dry enough. Izuku dragged his bag and claimed part of the floor as his own, too tired to even care about the dust on the rotten wooden floor.

Even without the stones on his bag, he felt like he had been dragging around a thousand pounds. Stain's things hit the floor in a more gentle manner next to Izuku.

"I'm heading out for a while." Stain said and Izuku just grunted in response. He intended on using every possible second in sleeping.

Even with the storm raging outside, Izuku managed to fall asleep with his face pressed into his bag.

He dreamed.

He was in one of his classes. History? Maths? Who knew. Their teacher was giving them a boring lecture and Izuku couldn't wait to go home. He had his eyes out the window, watching the clouds go by. He wasn't even bothering with taking notes. He moved his eyes towards the clock on the wall, wanting to see how long he had to wait before the final bell.

Something flashed by the window in that one second he wasn't looking. Whatever it was had crashed outside with a loud noise and Izuku jumped. He looked around towards his classmates but everyone was paying attention to the class. Even Kacchan was somewhat paying attention, his chair leaned back.

Had he imagined it? No, he was sure he'd seen and heard something. He got up from his seat and tried to look out the window, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. But he had a sinking feeling. So he left the classroom and walked outside.

He made it to the sidewalk and looked around. The street was deserted and the sunlight bounced off the concrete with all its might. He spotted something hanging from a tree and walked closer. It was a yellow backpack, still swinging in the brach that had caught it. Caught it?

He looked up, beyond the leaves. He saw nothing but the sun, even when he tried to squint and cover his eyes. The roof of the school was empty, drowned in the daylight. Wait, was the roof really empty? Was there something there? Maybe if he could manage to focus his eyes a little better. What was that?

Was that a-

A scream awoke him. He sat up, gasping for air. It took him a moment to differentiate truth from fantasy. He wasn't back at school, he was in a decrepit excuse of a house. His clothes and hair were damp with both rain and sweat and Stain's cooler was right next to him.

He rubbed his eyes, still confused. What had woken him like that?

Another scream sounded from nearby, high pitched. Right. That's what had woken him, not his weird dream.

Izuku got up, feeling more awake by the second.

The screaming couldn't be more than two blocks away. The rain had died down into a gentle drizzle rather than the horrible tempest that it had been. Stain was nowhere to be seen and yet Izuku called out for him in the dark. But his only answer was another choked yell. The teen hesitated for a moment, but his feet carried him outside before he knew where he was headed.

The house had a small passage on the back that led to a wider path. There were dumpsters and puddles aplenty, but he saw no one around. He walked down the small space in silence, looking around for any sign of movement. He was surrounded by walls of pure brick, no windows or doors.

There was a crash behind him, and he could hear running steps. He turned and followed without a second thought. He skidded around a corner and came upon the source of the commotion: a woman with a broken beer bottle clasped in her hands and two men making their way towards her. One of the men had a long cut in his left arm.

"You fucking bitch." Spat one of the men, still unaware of Izuku's presence. The woman, who was backed up against a wall, noticed Izuku but said nothing.

Was her shirt torn? Izuku couldn't be sure.

"That's gonna leave a scar, you know." Continued the man, blood still dripping down his arm. The woman looked terrified but there was a very clear hint of satisfaction in her eyes as she held the jagged glass in front of her defensively.

The scene reminded Izuku of his first meeting with Stain, but it was completely different apart from the general setting. Izuku had gotten away scot-free, but he doubted there would be a similar ending to this situation unless someone stepped in.

"Hey!" Izuku barked, much louder than he anticipated. He had expected himself to mumble but his voice was clear. All eyes were on him now.

"The fuck do you want, brat?" The man closest to him asked, a crooked smile filled with sharp fangs flashing in the dark.

"Leave her alone."

Both men turned to look at each other before the one with the fangs started laughing. The other one, taller and with no hair, turned his attention back to the poor woman.

"What, you wanna play hero?" The sharp-teeth individual mocked, pulling out a pocket knife, "Why don't you mind your own damn business, huh?!"

Izuku was very aware that he had no knife of his own but he refused to step back. There was no way either of these men could fight better than Stain.

You've never even landed a hit on Stain, commented the voice in his head, but he ignored it.

"No," the teen said defiantly, "This is my business."

"Oh-ho-ho, we have a feisty one!" The man told his partner. The other man laughed. The armed man with long blue hair pulled back in a ponytail stepped closer. Izuku tensed in anticipation.

Don't panic, don't panic, Izuku told himself.

"Go on, then, save the girl~" The man taunted before he threw himself at Izuku, blade first. The teen managed to step to the side and avoid the attack with room to spare, elbowing the man in the back of the head hard. The knife clanged on the floor, getting the attention of the others. The woman no longer had her bottle and she was desperately struggling to get away from the bald man holding her arm.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, brat?!" He asked, shoving the woman to the ground and coming close. Great. Two vs one. This was going south fast, but Izuku stood his ground. Even if he wasn't great at attacking, his training with Stain had prepared him to avoid movements much faster than the ones these two could deliver.

At first, Izuku had his training on his side. He dodged hit after hit, even managing to knock the knife out of the man's hand once more and landing a rather decent kick to the bald man's back which sent him stumbling.

But they had numbers on their side. It wasn't long before Izuku got a kick to the stomach and a punch square in the face. He hit the ground roughly.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, you dumb brat!" One of the men yelled, kicking Izuku while he was down and knocking all the air out of his lungs. Izuku's form skidded down the alley and from his new position he could see the street about forty feet away. There were people walking there. Izuku got kicked again, this time in the head.

"You think you're hot stuff, huh?" The man with the sharp teeth asked, spitting on Izuku. "Get lost, you idiot." With that, both men got back to their original task. The woman was still on the ground and she looked confused. She had probably hit her head when she got thrown down.

Izuku breathed heavily, water getting in his mouth and mixing with blood. He was tired and in pain. He focused his eyes on the street ahead of him and he could still see people come and go. A man walking past looked at Izuku; right at him. And then kept walking.

Izuku could feel something in his mind snap . He felt something hot in his chest, the intense feeling flooding him fast.

He got up, coughing dark red.

"I told you…" Another cough, followed by a gasp, "To leave her alone."

Both men looked annoyed by this point. Whatever fun they'd gotten out of beating Izuku had long since ended.

"You wanna die, kid?" The bald man asked, pulling out a knife of his own.

Izuku got to his feet and glared at both criminals with so much hate that he could feel his eyes watering.

"You wanna kill me? Go ahead."

The man scoffed, unamused, and stepped forward to finish the job. He tried to land a slash on Izuku, but the kid got out of the way and landed a harsh punch on his opponent's side. But he was weak and it did nothing. Izuku got shoved towards the wall painfully and he could see the knife headed right towards his neck.

He couldn't move but he refused to look away.

It was only because of that that he even caught glimpse of the man's arm getting sliced right off. The appendage landed on the wet floor with a thumping sound and for a second there was silence.

Izuku's eyes were wide and the man looked confused. Then, as he processed what just happened, he tried to scream in agony. A katana slash to the neck shut him up quickly. The man with the pointed teeth barely had time to register what had happened to his accomplice before a knife landed square in his chest and dug itself deep. He fell a moment later.

Izuku leaned back against the wall, unsure of whether he would be able to stand on his own, and stared at Stain's form in front of him. Stain was standing straight, his katana clenched in his right hand and an intense look in his eyes. The woman had pressed herself against the corner where she was, eyes comically wide. She was clearly unsure of Stain's intentions.

"...Are you okay?" Izuku asked her. She looked at him and nodded dumbly. She gave the teen a worried look but Stain cut her off before she could speak.

"Get out. Now." The man ordered and, after a moment of hesitance, she obeyed. She ran out of the alley and into the main street, disappearing out of view.

Izuku and Stain stared each other down for what felt like ages. For once, the boy was more than capable of maintaining eye contact.

"I can't leave you alone for two minutes, can I?" Stain hissed, narrowing his eyes at Izuku.

"Guess not," the teen replied, somehow finding the strength to chuckle. Stain was utterly unamused.

"Wipe that smile off your face," the villain spat, putting his katana back in its sheath and moving to recover his tossed knife "You'd be dead if it weren't for me."

"Yeah, I know… Thank you for that." Izuku spoke gently, with as much honesty as he could, and hoped that Stain at least knew that he really was grateful. Stain ripped his knife from the man's corpse with more force than necessary.

"You knew you couldn't win that fight."

"I…" Izuku swallowed "She needed help."

Stain added nothing else but he was clearly irritated at Izuku's careless actions. He walked off back towards their abandoned refuge and the teen followed painfully. He made his way slowly and when he got there, Stain was almost done cleaning his knife.

Izuku lowered himself into a sitting position next to his teacher. He was in pain, but not enough to signal that he'd broken anything. He'd be fine in a couple of days. They sat in silence for a while, the air between them tense. Izuku wiped his mouth with the bottom of his shirt, red coloring the fabric.

He gave Stain a sideways glance. The man didn't look angry, per se, but he was definitely not pleased. He had his eyes focused on his knife and his back looked rigid. But Izuku didn't know what to say. He wasn't about to apologize for what he'd done; he was actually quite proud of it.

"You need to get stronger," Stain started, red eyes glinting dangerously "otherwise you're just another victim."

"...Yeah, I know."

"Do you care?"

"I… Yeah, I do…" Izuku had the decency to look down at his hands "I know. But no one else was jumping in to save her. I… you know I just react without thinking. I hit you with a pipe the first time we met!"

Stain sighed, looking up at the ceiling as if looking for divine intervention.

"You're fucking hopeless."

"Yeah… I know."

There was another long silence. Stain kept his eyes up for a moment before he closed them and shook his head. Izuku thought that they were done talking but just as he was about to doze off Stain spoke.

"Get up."

"Huh… why?"

"You're training."

"What? Right now?!" Izuku couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. If he tried to fight Stain right now he'd only hurt himself more.

"You're learning how to throw knives, you dumbass. Maybe that way you won't die the next time I take my eyes off of you."

Izuku blinked and, against his better judgment, he smiled widely. As per usual Stain returned none of his excitement but he still kept his happy expression as he got to his feet and Stain handed him a small blade.

Even with the pain in his abdomen and face, he followed Stain's instruction until dawn without complaint.