Hi!
In this chapter our duo will meet our dear Kacchan. I tried to make his character believable and the like, but let's be honest - he is only two-three years old and his quirk didn't manifest yet, so he isn't so… explosive? Hah… his quirk just wants to be used in puns.
Quote: "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis
I looked in boredom at the screen of TV where was some silly commercial in which was someone in ridiculous looking suit and quirk (apparently that was how magic/superpowers were named there... weird) that allowed him to stretch his limbs to an impossible lengths... Huh, interesting. Not.
It was maybe interesting the first time I saw it, but repeatedly? What a bore.
'Well at least somebody is enjoying himself...' I mused as I looked at my younger twin (ha! I asked mom some time ago who is younger… turns out I am older by few minutes, I'll soooo use it against my brother in the future) who was currently trying to mimic the person in the suit but his moves more resembled a badly learned Macarena dance.
I smartly let this thought to myself though as Izuku could hold grudges pretty long and if he was angry at me, he wouldn't give me his serving of strawberries that we would be have with pudding today as a snack. And I was sucker for strawberries thus I couldn't let that happen.
Therefore instead of teasing him I turned my head to watch TV where this time was an advertisement on some kind of drink 'only true heroes' drank. What a load of crap.
Still...Heroes, huh?
I saw that coming with all these superpowers and shit. Villains, heroes and probably something between were things here. Although I didn't see a lot of villains in television (except for when they were arrested - there was a lot of these scenes on TV), however every the ones I saw were pretty dumb. Like what was point of stealing something in broad daylight, right under noses of heroes? Of course you will be caught; you dumb stupid excuse of a villain. I want villains similar to Joker or Fantomas or... I don't know! Seriously, seeing their poor efforts on TV made me pity them. Me. They were that pitiful.
And don't let me start my rant on heroes... There was so much of them and you could find any information about any hero on the internet. What was a point of 'secret identities' then?
It made me wonder if they didn't confuse word 'hero' for 'mascot' or 'community service'. Now I didn't have anything against them... just when I hear word 'hero' I have an image of a person, who wasn't flaunting his/her ability to help - he/she just did it without wanting anything in return, sometimes even losing something in a process (like eye, leg or... life). And he/she didn't need any super power to do it, too. Like what the hell, you have flashy ability so you decided to play hero? I call bullshit... But hey, this was my world now and I'll have to adapt and accept this new beliefs...
I think I was adapting quite well though. Few times I was even persuaded to join Izuku and mom in game of 'pretending to be hero'. It usually consisted of mum playing 'damsel in distress', Izuku being the hero who saves her and me either his sidekick or villain. My role depended largely on how my mood was on that day. Usually sour, thus I played villain.
I was totally convicted that my acting became so good after playing the 'baddie' so much that my 'maniacal laugh' became quite... unsettling. Heh, well... it wasn't like I decided to exploit my new ability whenever I liked to relieve myself of boredom... nooot at all.
"Fuhe…"
Izuku stopped his dance when he heard the sound I made. With both hands in the air and legs spread wide from each other, he looked quite comical. Then, he slowly turned to face me, look of dread on his face.
"N-n-nee-chan?"
Oh god, this was so amusing, why didn't I do this sooner? Oh yeah, my maniacal-laugh skill wasn't fully developed. I smirked devilishly, seeing my expression, drops of sweat started to form on his forehead.
All the more reason to abuse it more now, wasn't that right?
"Fuhehehehehehehehe..."
He turned around and dashed away with me hot on his heels.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Kaa-san! Nee-chan is in her villain mode agaaaaain!"
"Sounds like you are having fun then."
"No it does nooooot."
"Fuhehehe."
xXxXxXx
It was spring again and I could finally go out without the worry that I would freeze over. Of course spring wouldn't start without the tradition of welcoming spring... so cherry tree, here we go again...
I expected this years Hanami to go same way as last, but sadly just as I was about to open my sketchbook to try to became Picasso of this world, Izuku bumped his shoulder against mine. I looked questionably at him. What was this little devil up to now?
He gave me his best puppy-eyes and I instantly became fully alerted. This wouldn't be one of his usual shenanigans, this one will be big.
He stretched his hand and pointed towards something behind me. I shot him suspicious look, but turned to look anyway. Then I face-palmed. Kids. No wait, let me specify that: kids our age.
I faced my brother again and raised one eyebrow while doing 'shoo' motion with my hand. If he wanted to play, I sure as hell wasn't against it. However from the looks of it, this wasn't exactly what he wanted as he started to tug at my purple T-shirt. I narrowed my eyes. Hell no boy, I wasn't going near them, one brat was enough, thank you very much.
My twin was not deterred by my glare though and continued to point towards group and tug at my T-shirt. I was not impressed by his silent communication. I turned my head away and did good job of ignoring his efforts of making me socialize for a few seconds, until mom noticed my struggle and decided to hopefully save me from my insistent brother.
"Oh! You want to make friends? That's great! Here, take these sweets, too." Or not…
She shoved bowl of sweats into my hands and then pushed both of us towards a platoon of devils.
'W-what?! Mom?!'
With horror in my eyes I looked from treats in my hands to my brother happily tugging me towards my demise and eventually my eyes landed on the group of snot-nosed beings. I wasn't mentally prepared to face them. Holy shit one of them had literal snot falling down from his nose.
You can't do this to me?!
I turned around to express my desperate wish for rescue to my parent. When she saw me looking, she sent me wave with one hand while she held a fucking camera in the other. Oh god did she plan to record this too?! You... you traitor!
Where were all those damn heroes when you need them?!
...
And that was how I got in this situation: standing beside my brother as he excitably talked with winged-brat (probably son of the guy thanks to whom I realized I was not in my first world anymore) and other annoying brats scrutinizing me with curious eyes. Or maybe they were eyeing bowl in my hands. Yeah, that was probably it.
Suddenly I had this super smart plan.
"Sure, have some," I said, but instead of holding the bowl myself, I gave it to my brother and then with satisfaction I observed as other kids jumped at the offer and rushed toward treats like a pack of hyenas towards dead animal.
'Aaah, sweet revenge...' I thought with smirk as I slowly unwrapped a chocolate candy I seized before and put it my mouth. Was it just me, or was taste better from normal?
...
After everyone had their share and bowl was empty I took it from hands of my ruffled brother who sent me an accusing glare. I smiled sweetly at him and mouthed 'payback'. His glare intensified and I just whistled innocently.
"Whoa! That's so cool! How are you doing that?"
I stopped my whistling when amazed face of annoying brat number one was pushed too closely in to my personal space. I instinctively shoved him back, with my hand still on his face I raised an eyebrow.
"Doing what?"
Surely they knew how to whistle, right? Wait... they were two to four years old, so maybe not.
"That sound you did before!" proclaimed brat number two. They all started to surround me and my twin (who suddenly looked too pleased with my uneasy twitching - when did my angel became such vindictive devil?!). I started to sweat.
"It's just whistling...? You just curl your tongue and blow air through mouth…"
Okay I suck at explanations, but I didn't know how to explain something I knew how to unconsciously do for more than twenty years...
They did what I told them and... failed. I was not surprised.
"Che, that's nothing hard. I can do it too!"
Suddenly a boy with spiky ash blond hair and red eyes (red eyes… suuuure, okay, not commenting on that) appeared with loud declaration. I blinked at his sudden appearance and tilted my head to better examine him.
He looked like bully in the making with his air of superiority even in the tender age of two-three (I don't think he was older than that), even the way others unconsciously took a step back to made way for him spoke a lot about his personality. I narrowed my eyes - I did not like bullies. Period. Sure he didn't do anything wrong yet, but I could see all too well how his future would look like. He needed to be brought down a peg early on. And luckily I was all too happy to be the one to do it.
"Oh, really? Then show us."
He sent glare my way, easily recognizing tone of my voice. I was daring him and of course, he was too prideful to take back his words now.
Therefore he took large quantum of air in his mouth and when he resembled an eating hamster, he released it in one go.
And ultimately failed to whistle. Just as I expected.
Nobody dared to move or speak as they watched the now silent boy, whose face was totally priceless. His expression looked like mix between 'where did I go wrong' and 'this wasn't supposed to happen'.
My whole body started to shake as I tried to hold in my laughter, though few strangled snorts escaped me.
Ten or more pair of eyes landed on the one who dared to interrupt sacred silence that was bestowed. With all their attention on me, it became too hard to hold it in and in the end I gave up entirely.
"W-what! Don't laugh! You hear! It was just an accident! Just watch as I do a perfect whistle! Pfoooo! Pfooo! Damn?! Pfooo! Pfooooo..? Why it's not working?!"
In the end he just looked so miserable that I didn't have heart to laugh at him more. He was after all a kid and if I continued to laugh it could be considered that I was bullying him.
Still chuckling I moved to stand next to the boy who stopped his efforts and glared at me. I smirked and patted him to show my ‚sympathy'.
"Don't worry. I am sure you will be able do it when you get older," I told him with an indulgent smile - not. I was totally making fun of him - and he was aware of that fact as his cheeks reddened and there was smoke going out of his… ears? Huh, weird.
"You…"
The body under my hand started to shake. Others took few steps back, scared by his angry tone of voice, all except for Izuku - he was nervously waving his arms in front of himself (a signal for me to stop teasing already enraged boy, silly brother when did I ever stopped doing what I started?). I was not afraid of the brat - I was few inches taller and thirty years his senior.
"Yes, shorty?"
My condescending tone was meant to be noticeable, so when he spluttered and lunged at me I was already moving out of the way. He nearly lost his footing and fell when his fist met only air, but soon he recovered and was running at me again. I continued to evade his angry fists, however I soon realized that it was just so-so. My stomach filled with dread.
Intuitively I knew that everything I had in my past life (speed, strength, agility and even fucking instincts) was just that - in past, however to really experience it... It was hard blow. My combat skill were mypride, damn it! To lose them just like that... damn, it seems like I have plan for years to come now - I will get my fighting skills back!
Of course I forgot the second rule (first is: don't turn your back on your opponent) of fighting - always watch your surroundings.
So deep in my mind I didn't notice a hump on the ground and I stumbled on it. With my body so young and uncoordinated I ended up falling. The short boy didn't waste this chance and jumped on me. He took hold of my collar, neared his face to mine and started to yell something to me from close proximity.
Now...I've never played fair. So without any remorse I gathered abundant of spit in my mouth and spewed it right into his eyes. He screamed in disgust and started wipe the liquid from his face with both hands. Taking advantage of the situation I rolled both of us so that it was me this time, who was sitting on him.
His face contorted into scowl when he realized what happened thus before he could do something similar as I did, I started to - well he was child and I didn't want to hurt him- so I just pulled hard at his hair, pinched his visible skin and did other nasty but ultimately harmless things. He started to squirm, shout (I am sure with all his yelling adults will soon come to see what was the fuss about) and overall he tried to take the upper hand. Ha, keep trying squirt.
Then he bitted me.
I stopped all my movements to look at my arm that was held between teeth of the angry child. I slowly moved my sight to gaze into the furious red eyes. My own eyes turned murderous.
'No more holding back. This shit is dead.'
Our fight then turned into a full-out brawl.
xXxXxXx
In the end adults had to be brought to separate us. We were then scolded by respective parents and forced to apologize.
Of course we didn't look sorry at all when we said apologies to the other- I was smirking proudly, when I saw his ruffed appearance (conveniently ignoring that I looked just as bad) and he looked as if he was forced to eat lemon.
Adults then apologized to each other and after that we all went home, where I was scolded again - without any reservations this time. Throughout all of that Izuku was fussing over me and my wounds. I smiled lazily at him to calm him down, however it had quite the opposite effect as he screamed in shock and nearly fainted.
Apparently I lost a tooth.
xXxXxXx
I thought that after fiasco that was our first meeting, our parents would make sure to never let us have contact with each other. That wasn't the case though. Instead they decided to do 'play date thing' - supposedly so that we could acquaint better and clear animosity that was born between us.
I was not amused and judging by sour expression of the boy, he wasn't too.
Izuku though... he was radiating happiness when we relocated to our room so that he could show older boy his toy collection.
"And this- this is bear I sleep with. My father brought it before I was born. Nee-chan has on too, but brown."
I smiled softly at my cute brother. If I knew he wanted friends so badly I would have forced myself to meet other kids sooner, so that he could meet somebody. Well I still could do that later - in no way I would allow Izuku to 'befriend' this shitty kid. He would probably treat Izuku badly.
As if to prove my point the boy kicked one of the toys that were placed before him by my brother.
"The hell. I don't care about any of your shitty toys."
"But... Katsuki-kun..."
"When did I allow you to speak to me so familiarly?!"
Oh hell, no. You will not raise your voice at my brother and make him cry.
"Oy! Don't yell at my brother!"
"Haaa? Don't order me around, you hag!"
"Hag?!"
"Yeah! You look like one!
"You little..."
In the end it was really no surprise that our parents had to be fetched again by worried Izuku.
xXxXxXx
It happened again...
We were in a sandbox, building one big castle and failing because we were uncoordinated and repeatedly got into the way of the other.
"Look out Kacchan! Your side is falling!"
"I fucking know! And what the hell?! How did you call me?"
Katsuki's swearing vocabulary gradually expanded because of me... hmm maybe he wasn't such a lost cause and could be taught.
"Don't use bad words! I called you Kacchan... we see each other almost everyday and you two already use nicknames, so I just thought..."
Aaw Izuku you are such sweat heart. Don't know if hag and shorty can be considered nicknames you had in mind... but sure. And you don't need to explain yourself to that mean boy, you can do whatever you want, even call him... Kacchan... Pff
"Pffft-hahahahahaha. Kacchan! Hahahaha. Is that a shortened version of Katsuki-chan?! Hahahaha. Good job, Izuku!"
"D-don't laugh, you hag!"
"Hahahahaha! I think it suits you perfectly, shorty!"
"You... I am not that short!"
xXxXxXx
And again...
We were on birthday party... On Bakugou fucking Katsuki birthday party. Seriously, why was I invited? It wasn't like I and he were friends (we were more archenemies if I had to liken our relationship to something). I could understand Izuku. He somehow - to my absolute horror- came to like Katsuki and was becoming more and more immune to his angry outbursts. And Bakugou with all his yelling and swearing at my brother... I realized that he was all bark and no bite when it came to my twin. I was blindsided, because when the fuck that friendship thing happened (maybe at the time I was out, training my body... but it were just two hours a day?)? My horror and dismay aside, I could do nothing but to question my brother's choice in friends, now that it happened.
So yeah, I could understand Izuku.
But me...? With how all our meetings ended, I would think that they would be sensible enough to not invite me. Was it just because I and my twin came in one package? That was probably it...
There were other kids too. I recognized the one with wings - his father made quite an impression on me after all. But others? Nah... let's just name them: brat number one, number two... you get the rest.
Surprisingly nothing happened for most of the party. It probably had to do with the fact that I dumped present from me onto a pile formed by other gifts and then shuffled towards a table where sweets were placed. Then I hid under the table with plentiful of them.
In no way I would be forced to socialize, not after what happened when I did that before - I didn't want more archenemies, thank you very much.
I made sure to appear sometimes, especially when one of adults walked into the room to check on us. Didn't want them to force me out of my hiding spot after all.
And Izuku... bless the boy made sure to check on me from time to time. He didn't make me come out though and I gave him kiss on forehead for that - the plus was that it made him giggle and giggling Izuku was just a sweetest thing ever.
I said for 'most of the party' before didn't I?
Well there was sleepover... so I had to go out from under table and to my assigned sleeping place...
It was quiet for a while as everyone pretended to sleep to throw off Bakugou's parents (other adults went home around the time of supper).
Then it was time for sleepover playing... I just wanted to sleep, honestly. But it was not meant to be.
One of kids (number three or number five - didn't care which one) decided to stand over me and when I glared up at him to let him know that his scrutiny was unwelcomed, he gasped. I seriously didn't know what his problem was.
"Whaaat. You are that dumb girl from playground! The girl who made fun of Katsuki-kun!"
He remembered me. Nice. Mystery solved. Now, could you let me sleep...?
Apparently not and soon others were summoned by the ruckus and came to surround me. Like seriously? Nobody realized that fact sooner? And where was that amazement that was directed at me when I whistled? Geeze... this was the reason why I wasn't good with kids. They were so unstable with their feelings and moods (and I was a woman, I knew a thing about that).
Izuku tried to ease situation but he made it only worse as after that their attention wasn't only on me but on him too. That made me see red, I didn't mind few haughty words and mean gazes, but don't you dare insult my brother!
Then Bakugou decided to cut in with his arrogant attitude and cocky words.
And I just... next thing I knew I was wrestling with him on the ground.
... few hours later after we were moved to separate rooms and I slept out of my rage I realized that maybe, just maybe, he was edging me on with purpose and that he wanted to help in his own messed up way.
xXxXxXx
I think you get the point. One would think that if something happened again and again and again, then clever person would learn from it and stop doing that... I don't even know why they were still doing it.
What I knew, was that me and Katsuki were not getting along. At all.
That didn't stop our parents though. No. They just continued with 'play dates' with the hope that our animosity would one day just disappear.
Funny thing was - it didn't! Wohoo!
And then one day...
...
"Say Kacchan... What is your favorite flavor?" asked Izuku as he slowly ate his mint flavored ice cream
We were in park, sitting on bench and eating frozen desserts created in heaven. It was around month after the whole 'birthday incident' as I decided to call it.
"I told you to stop calling me that! And vanilla of course...Why would I choose this flavor if it wasn't my favorite?"
"You are dumb enough to choose the one you like the least," I remarked with smirk. I was only teasing, of course. I knew all too well how smart the boy next to me was (to my growing irritation I was the slowest one... Japanese language, I hate you!)
"What was that?! You want to fight?! Huh, huh?!"
"Hmmm? With a shorty like you? Nah, that would feel like I was picking on you..."
I gave my ice cream to Izuku, knowing what would follow - I wouldn't dare to waste strawberry ice cream after all.
"You..."
And suddenly Izuku had in hands not one, not two, but three ice creams. Poor boy almost wasn't able to hold all three at the same time.
He was so easy to rile up... I do wonder though when did I start to enjoy our fights so much.
It was only after we stopped our brawl because we were too tired and out of energy to continue, that we noticed that nobody tried to separate us. They didn't even look our way. Was our fighting so regular that others just over look it, now?!
I and my opponent looked at each other in bewilderment, for once our emotions and thoughts completely in sync. Then we turned to look at happy Izuku who was almost done with ice-creams that were given to him - all that remained was cone of a mint flavored ice treat.
"What the fuck?!" we yelled at the same time.
...
... they completely stopped to interfere with our fights.
xXxXxXx
Few days before our third birthday, it was decided that we would prematurely hold small party with Bakougou's (as on our birthday we will be in grandparent's house).
It would be with sleepover... apparently they didn't learn from the past mistakes.
I was just lazing around in front of TV (where another hero with water quirk was extinguishing flame that 'suddenly' erupted in a mall) with Izuku sprawled on top of me (he still didn't grow out of this bad habit of his) when bell rang, signaling arrival of our hosts.
Izuku energetically jumped up and rushed to great his friend. I grumbled, got up from couch and moved towards them at more sedate pace, already knowing this day was just another disaster in the making.
Before I could reach the hall though, my twin was already back in the living room and pushing something into my face. I shoved the thing away and sent him a look at which he sheepishly rubbed back of his head. I rolled my eyes and after light nudge I obediently looked at the thing that was in my face before.
It was a plush.
I tilted my head and examined it more thoroughly.
Correction. It was the plush of All Might - a hero that appeared out of nowhere around two weeks ago. He was impressive I suppose... but Izuku... Oh boy, Izuku was totally obsessed with him. To the point that it was unhealthy and I had to frequently slap his head to wake him up from his day-dreams in which he usually saved someone with All Might.
I was concerned a bit but well... let's hope he would grow out of it?
I was nudged again and when I looked at my brother, he had an expectant expression in his too expressive eyes. I sighed.
"It's... nice?"
"Nice!? IT'S BRILLIANT! Do you see all details the plush have? Those spikes on the head-"
Excuse me but I stopped listening after that. It wasn't like I wasn't interested in what he had to say, but... I really was not.
I was saved by the arrival of my archenemy who as usual had sour looking expression on his face. I sent him smirk that was returned with cocky one. Still not cured, huh?
Before we could start our usual banter, he was bowled over by Izuku, who was crying crocodile tears of gratitude. Katsuki looked annoyed by the bawling boy but didn't push him away. Heh... what was the word again? Tsundere?
I opened my mouth to comment on it, but I closed it with a loud 'clack' when I caught wrapped package that was tossed by the annoyed boy.
I observed it with curiosity and when it didn't hinted its contents I decided to unwrap it. Inside there was new sketchbook with small packcage of colorful crayons. I blinked few times, not knowing how I should react to such a gift.
"I didn't know what to give you... you are always either watching TV, running around or drawing... so I just..."
He didn't look at me so all I saw were his bright red ears. I suppressed the urge to chuckle and instead looked back at the present. I'd hate to say, but I was little touched by his thoughtfulness. I smiled softly; he was such a dork.
"Thank you... shorty."
My gratitude was sincere however I couldn't help but to tease him at the end a little. He turned to me at my words and seeing my smile he slowly smiled too.
"Don't mention it hag."
Aaaaw shit, when did this happen? When did I start to feel such fondness to my nemesis?! I can no longer view him as my archenemy now... what a drag. Will term frenemy suffice?
Aaaaand~ the end!
Sweet potatoes - I hope that I didn't make anyone too OOC...
About Katsuki/Izuku/Kou dynamic in this chapter... I didn't want for them to be friends from the instantly, because like, I don't think that would be possible as Kou and Katsuki are so similar in some things that it couldn't be helped that they clash. Also Izuku was intimidated at the start - I would be too as Katsuki could be scary as hell -but he gradually got used to him, after all he already had scary sister at home.
Their relationships and behaviors will change as they get older, however you can be sure, that they will be different from cannon.