小打も積もれば大木を倒す

Shōda mo tsumoreba taiboku-wo taosu.

A difficult task, e. g. removing a person/group from a strong position, or changing established ideas cannot be done quickly. It can be achieved gradually, by small steps, a little at a time.

After the dramatic announcement of Izuku and Ochako's impending execution, the students who weren't going to be fighting were escorted into the Viewing Deck. It was a large, steel-grey room, with a series of large screens separated from the deck by a railing that reached my chin. I was super anxious about this fight, because all my friends except me were involved, along with that super scary blonde. I climbed up the railing, standing on the first, lower bar and wrapping my hands over the top one, just so I could see the screens clearly. I bit my lip, watching as the projected version of Bakugo abandoned Tenya with the missile, taking off towards the Hero Team entrance gate.

"Geez Kurosaki, you're really nervous," Hagakure said, coming up to stand beside me. I noted the hovering gloves in my peripheral vision, but otherwise didn't react, eyes affixed to the screens. Hagakure waved her hand in my face, which was only effective because of her glove. "Is something wrong? Hello?"

I narrowed my eyes, still not looking away from the projections as the thirty second timer started to count down. "B-Bakugo and Izuku h-have a h-history. I'm w-worried f-for him and Ochako," I answered her, watching the timer reach twenty seconds. "If th-this goes p-poorly, th-they could be s-severely injured," And I will have to heal them, I mentally added miserably.

"I'm sure they'll be fine!" Hagakure assured me cheerily. "All Might will keep them safe, that's what the teachers are here for!"

I looked at (through?) her sadly. "T-teachers aren't p-perfect," I said caustically. "Neither a-are p-pro heroes."

All Might appeared out of nowhere, a hand on both my shoulder and Hagakure's. I nearly crumpled at the weight. "Well said, Miss Kurosaki! However, I assure you I will do my utmost to keep your friends safe!" He gestured to the screen, perfectly white teeth sparkling as he smiled. "I'm sure that Young Bakugo isn't quite as malicious as you think!" He told me. I bit my lip, frowning up at the teacher. Actually, I was pretty sure Bakugo was more malicious than I realized. All Might continued to speak, striding over to the podium in the middle of the rails. "This is only training, Miss Kurosaki! Your friends will be fine," he picked up the small mic, and clicked a button for the intercom. "Ready, Hero Team? Villain Team? Then let us begin! 3… 2… 1…" I swallowed my protests, anxiously watching Bakugo take his ready stance. "BEGIN!"

I watched Bakugo attack Izuku in resigned sadness. I winced as Bakugo slammed Izuku's back with one of his gigantic metal gauntlets. All Might was holding the intercom in his hand, watching the screen intently. I understood what he was thinking - he was giving Izuku a chance to fight back. It would hurt Izuku's pride to end the match now - but I disagreed with his decision. I would prefer Izuku damage his ego, rather than receive this beat down.

Izuku crawled away from Bakugo, and I bit my lip. If I was his teammate, he would've finished Bakugo off by now. I could easily compensate for the damage he received. It would've been easy. It would've been so. Very. Simple.

The two boys on screen lined up for one last charge, and I could hear the students around me gasp. I myself was shaking so badly that the metal tips of my boots were making small clinking noises against the floor. They ran forward, and slammed into each other. The resulting cloud of dust and smoke blocked them from the view of the cameras, but from the outside, I saw the roof erupt outwards. I instantly understood what occurred, and narrowed my eyes.

"Th-that idiot," I turned around and stormed away from the screens, where Ochako was making a move for the missle. Taking the stairs, I was on the field in mere moments, running towards the ruined building. The model city was impressively large and complex, but I could still see the plume of dust over the building hiding the missle. It luckily didn't take very long for me to reach the building, ducking and weaving my way past fake cars and street lights. As soon as I rounded the corner, I saw the wrecked structure, and gasped.

Climbing through the rubble, I coughed when I inhaled a little too much smoke. Jumping up onto one of the open windows, my eyes zeroed in on Izuku, who was lying curled up on the floor while Bakugo stood over him. I rushed forwards, skidding on my knees at his side, not caring that the material of my costume was ripping.

"Idiot…" I mumbled, rolling him onto his back. Both his arms had been utterly destroyed by that last confrontation. I bit my lip, prepared myself, and then reached out and spread my healing ability over to Izuku. It took only a second and a burst of steam to heal, but I knew that I would need to find somewhere to hide soon. The pain from Izuku's injuries would probably incapacitate me for a few minutes, which I wanted no witnesses for. "Izukun," I muttered pushing his chest gently. "G-get up, y-you're fine now." Izuku's eyes fluttered open slowly, and I glared at him. I bopped him on the forehead. "D-don't overexert yourself, or I'll l-let you l-land yourself in the school hospital for the d-day next time," I looked up at Bakugo menacingly. "And y-you! L-learn some s-selfcontrol, y-you're just as s-stupid as h-he is! Bakago!" Whoops, I thought, mentally beating myself over the head. Alarm sirens went off in my mind as Bakugo swelled with rage.

I climbed to my feet, reading myself for a fight I probably wouldn't win. My hands came up, and I slid my feet into a defensive position, a bead of nervous sweat rolling down the back of my neck.

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU MIDGET?!" Bakugo roared. His fists sparked furiously, small explosions lighting up the murderous expression on his face.

All Might, once again, appeared just in time. "Young Bakugo, Young Kurosaki!" I glanced away from Izuku to stare at All Might in confusion. Why the change of address? "This is no time for fighting! The Hero Team has already won! And Young Kurosaki, excellent job healing Young Midoriya."

I glared at Izuku. "Th-thank you, M-Mister All Might. I'm getting l-lots of practice healing Izukun," I hissed out the word "practice".

"Izukun?!" Izuku repeated, cheeks red.

"Yes," I confirmed petulantly. "Izukun, l-let's go find Ocha-chan and Tenya. They're also stupid - well, T-tenya less so, b-but still, y-you're all so r-reckless!" I complained loudly, dragging Izuku away from All Might and Bakugo. "M-my healing abilities can't b-be used a-all the t-time, you know!"

Izuku looked alarmed. "Wait, you can't use your healing ability constantly? What's the aftereffects? I know Recovery Girl drains her patients energy, do you use your own? Should you even be healing me? Maybe it would be better-"

"S-stop," I cut him off before he could realize the truth. "I w-won't run out o-of energy, s-so it d-doesn't matter. Now, l-let's go check on Tenya and Ocha-chan," I promptly tugged Izuku's arm again, forcing him up the stairs.

As soon as I saw Ochako, puking on the floor, I groaned. "Ocha-chan, why?!" I stalked over, still holding Izuku's wrist. I tapped her shoulder, spreading my quirk again. "B-be healthy," I ordered sternly. The brunette righted herself almost immediately, looking surprised.

"I'm fine now!" She cheered, then looked up at me. "You healed me, thanks! Oh, and Ocha-chan?" She repeated.

I nodded solemnly, pointing my thumb at Izuku. "Ocha-chan and Izukun," I then pointed at Tenya. "You aren't s-stupid, so no b-baby names for y-you."

Ochako just grinned in response. "I like your sense of humor!" She stood up, giving me a quick hug that left me frozen. "Thanks Icchan!" She smiled at Izuku over my shoulder. "I hope you don't mind if I call you Izu-kun as well!"

Izuku blushed bright red. "N-no, it's f-fine!"

Tenya looked around nervously, helmet in hand. "Why don't we leave before this building collapses?" He suggested reasonably.

I laughed sheepishly. "Ah, yeah. Th-that's probably a good idea," I gently tugged on Ochako's shoulder. "Ocha-chan? C-can we go?"

Ochako popped over to Izuku's side, looped her arms through both my and Izuku's arms. "Let's go!" She glanced back. "Tenya, please help Izuku! He's looking a bit wobbly," Tenya hurried over to Izuku's other side, grabbing his arm and helping him walk. I couldn't help but smile all the way back to the Observation Deck.

"NEXT UP," All Might roared, reaching into the lottery box. "TEAM B AND TEAM I!" I flinched in surprise, looking away from Hagakure and Ochako (who were becoming fast friends) at Team B. I swallowed in fear. I remembered them both from the quirk testing the day before. Shouto Todoroki and Mezo Shoji. Their quirks were especially suited for this activity of Track-Down-And-Capture.

Hagakure and Ojiro were less anxious. "Let's go hide the missle!" Hagakure sang. "This is going to be fun!"

Ojiro was also plenty confident, picking the missle up and walking out the doors into the model city. "We have five minutes to pick the place to hide," he said. "So we should make the best of it."

"Um, guys?" I walked up behind them, nerves fraying. "I-I have an idea, b-but I'm going to n-need your commitment."

Ojiro and Hagakure paused, looking at me for a moment. Ojiro shrugged. "Okay, sure," he agreed easily. "We don't have any plans, so…"

"O-okay then," I mumbled, not very assured. "So, th-this is what we're going t-to do."

The Hero Team entered the model city, ready for combat. Both teenagers were tense, ready for an ambush. Immediately, Shoji extended his many arms, activating his quirk and using multiple ears and noses to try and track the villain team down. He noticed a trail leading down the middle of the street. One his arms created a mouth, facing Todoroki. "Their scent leads that-" he cut himself off, eyes widening. "There's one above-!"

A ribbon neatly looped itself around the highest of Shoji's arms. "One down!" Hagakure shouted, knotting the cloth. The invisible girl landed on her feet, sprinting away from the captured hero. Inside the observation room, the watching students gasped in shock at the quick take down.

Unfortunately for Hagakure, Todoroki was fast to react also. Ice spread across the floor, hissing and snapping menacingly, freezing the invisible girl's feet. Ice began to slowly crawl up her legs, outlining her form. "You were quick to attack," Todoroki said coldly, staring her down. "But you won't catch me with the same trick." He extended his arm, ready to send another wave of ice that would incapacitate her entirely, removing Hagakure from the game.

At this moment, Ichigo dropped down from above the doorway, aiming an axe-kick at Todoroki's head. He dodged last second, hand automatically extending towards her as a pillar of ice rocketed upwards. Ichigo pushed off the wall mid-fall, landing a few feet away. Ice began to spread up her legs as well, but Ichigo smiled at Todoroki smugly, and ripped her feet out. Two trails of steam curled up her legs, as the torn skin automatically healed itself.

Ichigo lunged forwards, this time aiming a punch at Todoroki's throat. He ducked, turning in a roundhouse kick targeting for Ichigo's gut. Ichigo jumped backwards, arms raised to block. His leg slammed into her crossed arms, sending her sprawling. A wave of ice immediately followed, covering both Ichigo and the building behind her. Engulfed in ice up to her shoulders, Ichigo huffed in irritation.

"I said the same trick wouldn't work twice," Todoroki repeated, recovering from his combat stance.

Ichigo nodded in agreement. "I-I know," she smiled at Todoroki. "B-but it's ch-checkmate anyways." Todoroki's eyes snapped down in shock, finally feeling the ribbon tightening around his boot.

Hagakure finished knotting the ribbon around his leg. Todoroki stared down in surprise at the neatly tied white ribbon, and Hagakure stood, jumping up into the and pumping her fist. Ichigo grinned at Hagakure's enthusiasm.

"Yes! We won!" Hagakure cheered, entirely invisible yet still obviously happy.

A second later, All Might's voice sounded over the intercom. "VILLAIN TEAM WINS!" He sounded oddly triumphant - which was surprising, because the villains had won. Still, Ichigo was happy, and if the teacher appreciated her strategy, then all the better. It had worked very well, after all.

In the observation deck, Ochako was screaming encouragement loudly. "GO ICCHAN! Whoooo!" Tenya grinned, clapping with the other students. Izuku was muttering lowly, breaking down Ichigo's battle-strategy and scrawling away in his notebook.

"She used Hagakure's invisibility to create an ambush, and spread her healing abilities over before the game began," Izuku analyzed, drawing out a series of steps. "She immediately targeted Shinji, because he can track others, and sent Ojiro as far away as possible. Then she used herself as a distraction, to give Hagakure another opening. Very interesting, I'll have to ask her about how-"

Ochako stared at Izuku in fear. "Uh, Izukun? What are you doing?" She interrupted.

On the other side of the model city, Ojiro sighed in relief, leaning against the paper mache rocket on top of the tallest building in the back corner of the city. "I can't believe that actually worked," he then grinned victoriously. "Kurosaki is a genius!"

I strolled out of Basic Hero Training feeling very happy with myself. At my left side, Ochako and Izuku were chatting, while Tenya brought up the right. I had already put on my gigantic black coat, and was practically being swallowed in its depths. Ochako had laughed plenty at the ridiculousness of my clothing. "You look even smaller than before!" She had pointed out, earning herself a very harsh kick to the shin.

Tenya glanced down at me after I tripped for the fourth time. His eyes widened. "Ichigo, are you bleeding?"

"W-what? No!" I protested automatically, eyes wide. "W-what made y-you th-think that?"

Ochako didn't hear anything beyond "Ichigo is bleeding." She was already looming over my smaller form, tugging at my scarf. "Let me see, let me see," she demanded, opening the gigantic jacket, and dragging it away. I cursed mentally, feeling my entire body tremble with exertion. I knew that my eyes, once the bangs were pushed out of the way, would be clearly red and swollen. I looked like I had just recovered from a panic attack (which was close to what had occured). There was a smear of blood down running down my chin I hadn't quite managed to wipe away as well.

"What happened to you?" Ochako said, aghast. I didn't respond, closing my jacket and rewrapping my scarf.

I huffed in irritation. "I'm f-fine," I insisted, which wasn't precisely true, but suited my purposes. I wasn't going to announce what really happened, which would only reveal a large weakness of my quirk and making healing others more difficult. My quirk didn't really remove pain, rather it stored and condensed all the feeling away until after it deactivated. When I spread that ability to others, I adopted their pain as well. After healing Hagakure, Izuku, Ochako, and myself, I'd had plenty of pain saved up, from both the injuries and healing processes. More than enough for a rather unpleasant "crash". Unfortunately, I bit my tongue during the following seizure which usually accompanied a crash, which is why there was blood on my face. It wasn't that huge of a deal, but I knew that Ochako, Tenya, and Izuku would blow it up into a much bigger conundrum than it was. If they found out precisely how my quirk functioned, they'd refuse to let me heal them, which would be silly. It took only a few minutes of suffering for me to relieve them of harm.

Ochako was not convinced by my lie. "Are you sure? That looked like blood," she disagreed, reaching for my chin.

"Th-that's just l-left over f-from b-before," I said, gently batting away her hand and concern. In reality, the blood from my injuries while my quirk was active dissolved into the air in moments, but Ochako didn't know that yet.

Izuku was even more reluctant to believe. "Okay then," he agreed finally. "If you're sure."

"I a-am," I answered firmly, clenching my fists at my sides. I started towards the gates again, ignoring the fact that the other three began to trail behind. I was practically running away from them.

The air was cold again. It stung my face and cheeks, and my nose was already numb. I was already considering how much colder it might get tonight, fretting over what I would do tonight. I really didn't want to move from behind the flower shop, but the gods were not on my side today, apparently. Sadly, I didn't know of many places I could go. I could hide inside the library, maybe, but there was a high chance of getting caught. In the middle of my brainstorming, I was interrupted.

"HEY!" I turned, still aggravated, to see Bakugo storming towards me, eyes narrowed. "You! Ichimi, or whatever!"

I stopped fully, glaring right back at the blonde. "It's IchiGO, n-not IchiMI," I was fairly sensitive about people remembering my name.

Bakugo stuck his lip out at me sneeringly. "Whatever, Ichigo," he huffed. "Listen, you don't suck as much as the rest of the side characters around here," he pointed at me accusingly. "But don't think that means I'm not going to beat you black and blue, got it?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Ch-challenge accepted," I said softly, barely loud enough for him to hear. "G-good luck doing so, I d-don't b-bruise easy."

"Che," Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets, stalking past me. "Everyone's beatable, even All Might. That's why I'm going to be number one!"

I watched him leave through the front gates, suddenly filled with understanding. He wanted to be the best, and pushed everyone away in the process. I wondered how scared he was, of others, to act that way. I had certainly been there before, but it had done me no good. Simply left me alone, without any friends to watch my back.

"They say," I whispered. "That pride cometh before the fall. I pray you won't learn that lesson from experience, Bakugo." I walked out of the gates myself soon after, ahead of my friends, but far behind the blond, who no longer seemed very frightening.

Just lonely.

I stood in the middle of the alley behind the flower shop mournfully. My little spot next to the metal dumpster, with its crumbling brick wall and ever present puddle was being robbed from me by the weather. This sucked. It really, really, sucked. I was going to have to move, and my spot would so be taken when I came back, if I didn't get caught by the authorities. Who knew being a bum would be so difficult? I certainly didn't know, when I ran away six months ago from -

"Excuse me, child," I glanced over my shoulder to see an old woman even shorter than I was. Her hair was white and long, hanging freely over her shoulders, and despite her age, she exuded an air of grace. I tensed, recognizing her as the owner of the flower shop.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Y-yes, ma'am?"

She smiled gently. "I've noticed you sleeping around here for some time, child. If I was going to report you, I would've already done so," she explained, and I relaxed marginally. "You aren't the first child to run away from home. I still remember when I fled my family. It was a different time, they wanted me to marry a much older man. I traveled across many miles until I reached this city. I met my beloved Akihasa here," she looked up at the sky in reminisce. "Those were good times."

"I-if you don't mind me asking," I said timidly. "What's th-that g-got to do with me?"

Her eyes returned from the sky, and I realized that they were a milky white. "I will allow you to stay within my shop," she began, and I jumped in shock. "However, I'd like you to clean while you're there. The back room is open, and I can't see as well as I used to. Having someone young to spruce up the place would be nice," she grinned, and I could see the young, adventurous woman beneath her wrinkled skin. "You'll be paid, of course. Ten dollars a night."

I was entirely still, stunned by the too good to be true offer. "S-seriously? You'd even pay me?"

"Why not?" She answered cheekily. "Back when I first came here, another lady gave me a very similar offer. Think of it as my paying respect to her memory. The name's Yukihime Kitaro, child." She held out a shining silver key.

With a shaking hand, I took it. "Ichigo Kurosaki, Missus Yukihime," I grinned back at her, feeling a wave of confidence. "At l-least, that's the one I'm using n-now."

"One Protector, hm?" Yukihime translated. "It does suit someone courageous as yourself."

"C-courageous?" I repeated, surprised. I had been called many things, but courageous wasn't one of them.

Yukihime smiled. "Of course! You have to be brave to run away, hm?" She turned away from me, strolling out of the alley. "Good luck, Ichigo Kurosaki. I expect my shop to be stunning tomorrow morning!" I watched her turn the corner, before beginning to laugh helplessly. The utter luck and coincidence, that I would camp out behind the store of an old runaway who was willing to help me…

Nevermind, I thought as I held up the shiny silver key against the perfect sunset, that I could barely see through the end of the alley. The gods really are on my side.