Chapter 8

Meeting The Friend

It was the night after the race. That meant Izuku had to go back to UA tomorrow.

Ritsuko sat on her bed as she thought about that as she held the hyena that Izuku bought her in her arms. She could drive by when it was over with her bike. Then again, maybe it wasn't the best idea. After that fight he had Uraraka, she probably shouldn't see him again. The brunette would probably be mad with her if she were to see him.

There was a soft knock on the door of her room. After a few seconds it opened. A brunette with spiky dark brown hair and dark blue eyes stepped in. "Hey, Ritsuko."

"What do you need?" she asked.

"Why are you going out so often during the day?" he questioned. The male was getting a bit protective. "You usually go out at night to get things."

"Can I ask you for something?" she asked instead of answering.

"If you answer, yeah."

"It will answer..."

The tall male sighed, "Alright, what is it?"

"Advice. You're better socially than I am, and I want to know how to communicate better."

"For what reason? You seem fine to me."

"Because I've known you since we were kids. I've only known this guy for a week now, and he makes me nervous sometimes. A good kind of nervous though, if that makes sense to you," she explained. He closed his eyes for a moment in thought.

"So you like him?" he tried. She shrugged.

"I don't know yet, Kaito."

Kaito went over to the bed and sat down beside her. "You'll figure it out soon, and you will know when. For now, get to know more about him. I know you hide your feelings for the most part at first, so start to show him them. Playing your violin for him would be nice too; I'm sure he would love it!"

Ritsuko looked up, "Last night he got drunk and admitted personal stuff about himself. Should I tell him what he said?"

"Yes, you definitely should. Don't keep major secrets from him either. Soon, he needs to know that your parents are villains. Although, all of us that are here know that you don't want to be considered one. I don't want to be one either."

The girl nodded and with a small smile she said, "Alright, thanks. Do you want to listen to some music?"

Kaito showed her a smile, "Yeah, sure!"

That being said, she got her music player and earbuds. Then she had an idea. She looked at him and said, "Hold on, I'll be right back."

Ritsuko got up and left her room. She stepped through the hall and went into the bar area of the place. On one of the stools was who she was looking for.

"Dad," she said, grabbing the light blue haired male's attention. He set his glass down.

"What, Ritsuko?"

"Can I have a phone?"

"That's sudden. What for?"

"To contact you, Kurogiri, or Kaito if something happens," she said, purposefully leaving out Izuku. Tomura took one more sip from his drink as he thought.

"Yeah, sure," he finally responded.

"Thanks, dad," she said before walking back towards the hall.

"Ritsuko," her father called out, causing her to stop, "where have you been going lately?"

"Around town," she answered vaguely. It wasn't a lie at least.

"What have you been doing?"

"You're overprotective sometimes, dad."

"You're my only daughter, so it makes sense. Now stop avoiding the question and answer."

"I have been getting things like supplies and information. On my way home yesterday someone told me that Haze got in trouble. Maybe you should deal with him," she advised. It was the truth; someone had told her that the blond decided to mess with someone he probably shouldn't have. Tomura took a sip of his drink instead of responding, so she just continued into the hallway. When she got back to her room she pointed to the brunette.

"What's up, Ritsu?" he asked as he lifted his head.

"You should give me your phone number. My dad's getting me a phone."

"Oh, sure." Kaito got up, went over to her desk, and got a piece of paper. He quickly scribbled his number with a black pen. When he was done, he set the pen down and turned to see her. His dark blue eyes landed on the striped hyena stuff animal being held in her arms.

"Where'd you get that?"

"The guy that we were talking about gave it to me."

"Oh." He was getting a little protective of her again. He usually did since she was pretty much the only family he had. She was a little sister to him, and he would die if it meant she would be alright. He wanted to make sure that, whoever the guy was, he could make her the happiest girl alive. She deserved all the happiness she could get. "Who is he? Is he taking advantage of you or something?"

She shook her head, "No, he's really nice."

Hearing her say that made him relax a bit. He rubbed the back of his neck as he asked, "What's his name though?"

Ritsuko seemed unsure. Kaito sat down beside her again. He knew that specifically striped hyenas had a special meaning to the girl due to her mother, but it was extra special now because of this boy he didn't know.

"I won't tell anyone, and that's a promise. You know me. I wouldn't tell anyone anything that you don't want them to know," he reassured her.

Ritsuko let out a short breath. "It's the Midoryia Izuku guy that my dad is enemies with," she admitted. She turned to him with a hint of desperation. "You can't tell anyone! Especially my dad!"

He saw her grip the hyena tighter. It was as if it were the last thing she could ever touch. "Relax, I wont tell. Promise." Kaito held his pinky out to her. "Pinky promise, if that makes you feel better."

Hesitantly, she wrapped her pinkie around his. "Okay, pinky promise then, Kai."

~~~

It was Monday after school now. Uraraka felt bad about getting into a fight with Izuku yesterday, so she apologized. Of course, he gladly accepted it, and he apologized himself. She knew that the way she acted was very out of character for her. He was hanging out with Ritsuko more than he was with her and Iida, and it had ticked her off. The girl wanted to try and make it up to him though. Ritsuko as well. The only problem she had now was that she had this weird feeling she couldn't quite describe about the blue haired girl.

Now, she was back at the place she had found him at the day before. The treehouse that she could only assume belonged to Ritsuko. She was looking around; she felt like there was something extremely important that she was missing about the blue haired girl.

Uraraka was searching the place, and she found the box that Izuku and Ritsuko were looking in. She sat down and opened it. The brunette moved some of the items until one caught her brown eyes. It was a picture, and the last person she would expect was in it. It was Tomura, their enemy, sitting behind a woman with brown hair.

Then it clicked why Ritsuko seemed somehow familiar even though she had never seen her before last week. They had the exact same shade of light blue hair, and she guessed that she probably had his quirk as well. It explained why she never touched everything with all five fingers when they were at the mall.

Now she definitely needed to tell Izuku. If he wanted to hangout with her more like he said, she knew that he had to know about this. After all, her father was out to kill him for the most part.

~~~

Izuku was at the front gates of UA after school got out. It was Tuesday now, and he didn't see Ritsuko at all on Monday. He really wanted to see her again. Yesterday he had gone to the park at the same time they were meeting before, but she didn't come.

The boy began walking down the sidewalk toward his house. While doing so, he kept thinking about Ritsuko. He even thought about both of her quirks, still not registering that one of them was the decay quirk that his enemy had. It was like a state of denial that he didn't realize he was going though; his mind just wouldn't let him see it.

Due to his distraction, he didn't hear someone walking up to him. He turned after they tapped his shoulder, and he saw Uraraka. "H- Hey!"

"Deku, you need to know something important!" she told him.

"Wh- what is it?"

"How much do you know about Ritsuko?"

He thought for a moment. "I know about her mother, a few things she likes, and a few people from her childhood. Why?"

"Not her father?" He shook his head. "Deku, our enemy is her dad; it's Shigaraki Tomura! She has the light blue hair, and she doesn't touch anything with all of her fingers. She probably has the same quirk as him."

"Wait, what?" Without saying anything, the brunette held up a picture in front of his face. Slowly, he took the picture in his hands so he could see it more closely. It was the one of Ritsuko, her mother, Kaito, and Tomura. It all clicked in his head, and he felt stupid for not seeing it earlier. Her hair color, how careful she was with her hands, the fact that she still hadn't told him her last name, and one of the quirks she displayed in the race. She was also defensive when he had asked her if he could see a picture of her father.

"I'm not going to stop you from talking to her since I can't control you, but I want you to be careful." There was a pause. "What are you doing to do?"

Izuku wasn't sure for a few seconds. Then he decided what he would do. "I'm going to ask her. I'll let you know tomorrow. For now I'm going to think."

The brunette nodded, and the two departed. On his way home he thought about what he could do. He still felt a bit mad at himself for not piecing it together much earlier when it was all obvious. Since he was lost in his mind, he ended up bumping into someone when he rounded a corner.

"Sorry!" Izuku rushed. He looked up at the taller male. His eyes widened slightly when he saw them. They looked older now, but from the spiky, dark brown hair and dark blue eyes, he knew it was Kaito.

"You're Midoriya Izuku," he stated. He stepped back slightly. Kaito was protective of Ritsuko, and he knew that from what she said about him.

"Y- yeah," he stuttered. Kaito took one step closer.

"Jeez, finally found you. I want to talk to you about Ritsuko real quick," he said. The taller boy gave him an intense glare, and it made Izuku become very nervous. "If you're going to be around her, you must know two things. One, I will beat the shit out of you if you hurt her. She may not act like it, but she's actually pretty emotional. Two, you need to be willing to protect her. No matter what." Izuku looked into Kaito's dark blue eyes. "What? You look like you want to say something."

"Is... Is Shigaraki Tomura really her dad?" Izuku finally asked.

There was a pause between them until Kaito finally said, "Yes, he is. I know he's your enemy and everything, but she's not like him. Her dad doesn't even know that you're seeing her; she's been doing a fairly good job at keeping that a secret."

That made him relax. Although, he knew she was risking it when she was with him. "Can you, um, ask if she can meet me at the park at 4:30 tomorrow?"

"Sure, whatever. Like I said though, you better not hurt her. You better protect her too."

"Just one more thing," Izuku said to stop him from leaving. "She doesn't want to be a villain, right?"

"Neither of us do. It's that both her parents are, and my father was. That makes us villains by default."

"No it doesn't! You two aren't villains," he declared. It made Kaito raise an eyebrow. Still, he turned and resumed walking.

"Whatever," he said. Just like that, he was gone. Izuku wasn't exactly sure how he should take the strange encounter, but he saw it as a good thing. Knowing that only Kaito knew about them meeting was good; Tomura was the last person he wanted to know. He felt that he could trust Kaito as well. The brunette was also going to tell Ritsuko to meet him too, and that made him happy.

~~~

The light blue haired girl stood in the kitchen. She watched and made sure that the food she was making wouldn't burn. Then she heard the large painting to the secret living area move. It took only a minute or so for the person that entered to appear in the same room as her. When she turned she spotted Kaito.

"Hey," Ritsuko greeted with a small smile and went back to watching the food. The slightly taller brunette walked over to her and glanced at the food. It took only a few seconds to realize what she was making since she had made it several times before.

"That kid you have been meeting up with lately," he started, causing her to look at him again.

"What did you say to him?"

"All I- wait, what makes you assume I even spoke with him?"

She let out a short and quiet sigh, "Because, I know you."

"Well, all I said was for him to treat you right. That's all... Oh, and he wants to meet you at the park at 4:30 tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you," the girl said with a smile. It made Kaito smile a bit too as he turned and headed to his room.

After about twenty minutes Ritsuko called everyone that was there for dinner. There was an energetic girl that only took a few seconds to walk into the dining room. When her eyes landed on all of the food set up her smile grew even wider.

"Finally! I was starving!" she exclaimed. Her yellow eyes landed on the blue haired girl, and she stepped over to her. "It's been awhile since I've been able to have any of your food, Ritsuko!"

"Right, Himiko," she said as the blonde spun a few times. Then a few others stepped into the room. "The food is still hot, so you guys should wait a few more minutes."

"Ritsuko," Tomura said, sounding slightly demanding. She went over to him to see what he wanted. "You are going to be staying here while the rest of us go out somewhere for the next few days."

"Where are you going?" she asked, a little confused.

"To get things. You will be here to watch the others," he stated. Ritsuko thought for a moment before nodding.

"Alright, that'll be fine." With that, the blue haired male went to the table. The fact that her father was leaving for a few days wasn't new ever since last year. The man that Tomura was taking orders from was gone after all, so he had to take things into his own hands. She was aware of what his villainous activities were as well when he was gone. Ritsuko just hoped that no one she didn't like would be staying behind too.

Word Count: 2644

Merry Christmas!

Okay, you guys need to know that I'm taking a little break from this story for two reasons.

1. A close friend of mine got in an accident recently, and I want to be available to help them through what's going on. I put family above the internet, and I consider my friend as family since I've known them for so long. Plus, the whole ordeal effects how I feel at the moment, and I don't want that to effect how I write the story.

2. I also want to rethink what I'm doing for the plot of the story. I have this general idea of where I'm going, but I don't exactly like how I'm getting there. As the author, I not only want to give you guys something that entertains you, but something I can be proud of as well. There are some chapters of the story that I could have written better, so I'm not as proud of those ones as the others.

I just wanted you guys to know what's going on. One thing I feel an author should do is fill their readers in on a little of what's going on in reality so they understand the situation. The story won't be abandoned though, so don't worry!

~ Posted December 25, 2018