I was walking next to Deku, talking with him about the most random things from favorite colors, books to what dinosaur would we be, favorite smell, but at this current topic, we agreed to disagree.
"How could you not like cats? They are so small, graceful and playful." I huffed at him.
"Ah... I didn't say that I don't like them, I just prefer dogs, they are just so happy and loyal, not to mention soft."
"The purr makes all the difference." I said back. "But I agree with you, dogs are very lovable." I turned my head, smiling at him, he just started chuckling at the odd topics. We were nearing the arena, and when we walked around the corner, the sight stunned us both. In front of us, were the girls from our class, dressed in cheerleading equipment, pompons in hands, and dead looks on their face.
"What is going on?" I asked, turning to look at Deku, and I saw him blushing heavily.
"Hey, I'm going to check on what is going on." I told him as I started running towards the girls.
"Were we supposed to change? I mean all of you look amazing, but what's the occasion? " I asked. They turned embarrassed looking down, and Tsu voiced.
"Mineta tricked us." With this short sentence, she explained everything.
"Aaa."
"Gather around those of you who passed the preliminaries." Midnight called out.
"All right, now I'll determine who fights whom through this lottery, once the matchups are decided, we'll do a fun bit of recreation, and then we'll begin. Whether or not the 16 who will be competing want to join in on the recreation activities is up to you. So from the team that placed 1st, let's determine the order...", but another voice cut in.
"Umm...! Excuse me, sorry!" It was Ojiro. "I'm sitting this one out."
I felt horrible.
Soon the others questioned him for the reason and he responded.
"Truth be told, I don't remember anything that happened during the human cavalry battle up until the last seconds. I know it's my big chance and its stupid to throw it away... But this is the place everyone earned by clashing at their full power. I wouldn't feel right standing here knowing that it wasn't for my efforts. I just can't do it."
I understood where all of that was coming from, yet I approached him, hoping to change his mind.
"Ojiro, are you sure about that? You will lose the chance to show that you deserve to fight in this tournament." I said looking closely at his reaction.
"I am sure. This is a matter of pride, I just can't stand the thought of it." He grimaced, I placed my hand on his shoulder and said to him.
"I understand."
Midnight's voice rang up. "How naive... I'll have you know that youngsters like you... GET ALL MY LOVE!" she yelled, cracking her whip.
I turned my head to search for Shinso. When I found him, I frowned and he returned my gaze bored and turned away.
Midnight declared that Tetsutetsu will take Ojiro's place and showed us the matchups.
I checked for my name and found it next to Kaminari. I located him, looking at me and was holding his fist towards me, I raised my own to bump his, we were grinning like 2 idiots and he started to say.
"I am not going to hold back, Saku."
"Neither will I."
I turned and strolled towards Kirishima and Bakugo.
"Who are you fighting?" I said, very close behind them, only Kirishima jumped at my sudden appearance, and Bakugo just continued to look confused at the list.
"Uraraka?" he said, puzzled.
"Zero Gravity." I pointed out.
"I knew that already, Pinky." he snapped.
"Sure you did." I replied, moving towards him, with a cheshire smile.
"I have something for you."
"Huh." he paused, looking at me, then continued. "What is it? You better not be fucking around." he finished squinting his eyes at me.
"Bakugo-kun, I am serious this time." I said coming closer to him and flicked his forehead, doing the same trick as the first time I met him.
"Got a chill pill for ya." I said, fleeing away from him as he started shouting insults, but I paid him no mind.
I walked in the waiting room and stumbled on Deku and Ojiro.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?"
"I wanted to tell Midoriya, what to expect on his match." Replied Ojiro, turning towards me. "Actually I have a question for you."
"Shoot." I told him, taking a seat, raising one knee to my chest.
"I didn't think much of it at first, but it's been nagging me for a while, how come you weren't under Shinso's control?"
"I was, he did before I spoke with you and Aoyama, but I broke from it, I uh, I self-induced a cerebral stroke to regain control, I guess he didn't try again on me, as to not give himself away that you were under his control. What what was the last thing you remember?"
"I remember telling him that I was okay with the plan and the next thing I know is waking up to hear that the match ended. I think his quirk has something to do with answering him."
"I think so. I, too, gave him an answer when it happened. Deku you're against Shinso, right?" He just nodded. "Don't talk with him, like at all, maybe is just by talking or answering to him, but to be safe, don't say anything to him, he has the Brainwash quirk, and it's very strong. In my case, I did it out of instinct, it's not the first time people tried to use their quirk to mess up with my mind." I paused remembering every time an illusion was put on me and continued. "Though, I don't know how you, could break from it."
Deku suddenly made an anxious face, realising the position he was in.
"Hey don't do that, it's going to be fine, knowing you, you ought to put up a fight. I believe you can do it, just be cautious. Now come on, your match is about to start." I finished standing and making my way to the door, stopping to wait for them.
"Thanks Ojiro, you too Sakura, I will do my best." He said composing himself and giving us a reassuring smile.
"What I'm about to say may sound a bit selfish, but get him for us, too." Ojiro replied and I did a thumbs up at him.
As we wished Deku good luck, and made our way to the audience, Ojiro asked worried.
"Do you think he will be fine?"
"I sure hope so." I said quietly. We rounded the corner and we found our class already there, I decided I wanted to sit next to Uraraka, so as I passed Bakugo, I ruffled his hair, he just grunted and continued on my way. Deku and Shinso were already at the center of the arena, as Cementoss-Sensei was explaining the rules, I whispered to Uraraka.
"So who do you think will win?"
"Deku, for sure." She said looking at me, pumping her fists up.
"I think so too." I turned my glance back at the arena, excited to see what would happen.
Shinso was saying something to Deku, but none of us could hear from that distance, It was fairly quiet around me, so I enhanced my hearing.
"That dumb chimp mentioned "pride", but."
"READYYY." I jumped at the loud announcement , but continued to listen, being too curious to stop. "START!"
'Talking shit about Ojiro to make Deku talk, eh.'
"Don't you agree he's a retard for flushing away his chances?"
I didn't expect Deku to get so angry and snap back to him.
'Oh, no. Why did you do that you, idiot.'
I thought, frustrated, and it looked that I wasn't the only one, from behind I heard Ojiro say. "No, Midoriya, we warned you."
Deku stopped completely on his tracks and Shinso ordered him to cross the bounds. Deku started walking on the opposite side.
"Deku, snap out of it." I screeched, but he didn't seem fazed about it.
'Damn it, he doesn't have much more.' I thought panicking.
His step came to a halt, I jumped from my chair to see better from the ledge, and suddenly there was a gust of wind.
"YEEEEES!" I shouted, jumping up and down.
"Holy crap!" commented Ojiro.
"Say something, why don't you... So you've literally got that much power in your little finger! Count me jealous! There is no gateway to success here for me, not with this quirk! Not that you would understand, people like you who were born with the perfect quirks would NEVER UNDERSTAND!"
'Perfect quirk? Deku is indeed strong, but Shinso can brainwash, what does it have to do with being unsuccessful, it's such a rare quirk for a hero. Imagine controlling the bad guys to surrender themselves.'
'The people would be scared of it though.' A flashing thought came, I just shook my head and continued to pay attention to the fight.
Deku reached for him, grabbing and pushing him back, but Shinso punched him in the face, making Deku release him, when he tried again for a grab, Shinso pushed Deku's head back who caught his hand and in a grappling hook threw Shinso over his shoulder, his face full of determination to win, landing over the border.
"MIDORIYA, YOU ADVANCE TO ROUND 2!"
"He did it, he did it." Me and Uraraka screamed jumping up and down. I stopped my pacing and ran towards the infirmary, to check on Deku, I know that Recovery Girl will take care of him but I still want to be sure. I opened the door and there he was, bandaged, being scolded by Recovery Girl , but there was also another man that I did not recognise, with blond hair, he looked so thin, his suit was too big for his frame. They stopped talking when they saw me.
"Good afternoon, obaa-san! I'm sorry to intrude, I didn't know you had company, I just wanted to make sure that Deku is fine, but I can leave." I said already backing away to leave.
"Wait, it's okay, I was done here anyway." Deku replied and walked to me.
"Okay. Have a good day." I smiled at Recovery Girl and stopped my gaze again at the mystery man, as I left.
"You completely fine?" I asked, nudging Deku.
"Uh, yeah, Recovery Girl took care of me." he replied pensively. Something was bothering him.
"But?"
"I just, the battle with Shinso, made me realise how alike, we are." He said clenching his fists, saying nothing more.
"Who was that man next to you?"
"That's, uh, that was my... my uncle." He stuttered, fidgeting a bit.
"That's cool that he came here to encourage you." I turned to him, remembering that I wanted to do something, and said.
"Go to the others, I have to check on somebody." I said shooting him a smile and sprinting, my pink hair leaving a trail behind me.
'Where is he? Not here, not here either, ugh come on.' I thought running around, until finally I saw a blob of indigo hair, sitting on a step, devoid of people around. When I got behind him, I smacked him on the back of the head, not very hard, but enough to make him jump up and rub his head.
"What the hell, woman." He yelled, seeing who smacked him.
"You deserved it." I said, putting my palms on my hips and leaning forward to appear more serious.
"What do you want?" he said tired.
"To talk."
"To talk? With me? Are you sure that's a wise decision?" he asked satirical.
"I will smack you again, if you think of brainwashing me." I retorted, squinting my eyes at him, eventually I took a seat on the stair and patted the space beside me, signalling to him to sit. He pondered a bit on it, and reluctantly sat down, unsure of what was happening.
"I will be blunt with you, I am still mad at the stunt you pulled at the human cavalry battle, but I'm curious about something. I heard what you said during the match. Were you..." I hesitated, but gulped and continued.
"Were you referring that people would be too reluctant to trust you with their lives, because of your quirk?" I asked, feeling suddenly very unsure of myself.
"What was the first thought you had, when you realised that I tried to brainwash you."
"In truth, I didn't give it too much of a thought, I was a bit curious to see how you would use your quirk and was left a bit disappointed to realise you were brainwashing Ojiro and Aoyama. That was completely unnecessary." I huffed at him, shaking my head.
He just stood silent, analysing me, and let out a sigh before speaking.
"Every time people found out what my quirk was, they would stop talking to me altogether, out of fear to not become my 'slave' as they call it, I could hear them talking, doubting that I could become a hero, they saw me more suited as a villain. And I despise it, I hate my own quirk." He spoke looking at his hands, and clasped them tight in a fist.
"You shouldn't, your quirk is fine, but it depends on you for the rest, what you make of it. If you continue to brainwash people that only try to help you, you will be perceived negatively. Now, give me your hand." I requested, putting my palm out to take his hand. I looked at him waiting, and he smirked.
"Proposing now? What's the rush?"
"What? I didn't mean it like that, idiot, I just wanted to check if your body is fine." I stammered, feeling my face heating up at the mistake. Now he had a mischievous smile and said.
"And now you want to check if my body is fine, how lewd of you."
I lowered my head in embarrrassment, then I lost it.
"That was impeccable, you saw the opportunity and you took it." I started laughing hard.
"Come on, we have to go back to the others, so let me check if you are okay."
He gave me his hand and I focused to see if he took any damage from the throw, and as expected, his back was a beacon for a big bruise to be.
'Good, just a bruise, that won't require a lot of healing.'
"I will heal your back, so you won't have bruises and walk like a grandpa." I began focusing on accelerating the healing process, my hand glowing dimly a forest, green colour, on top of his. When I was done, I got up, stretching a bit from sitting, Shinso sat up as well and said.
"Thanks."
"No problemo, by the way, in the next few days, if you notice that your hair is growing with a pink tint, it's normal, just made a slight adjustment." I replied winking at him.
Suddenly he gasped, making an alarmed face and looked terrified towards me.
I just burst laughing, not able to control myself. When I stopped laughing , I told him.
"I'm just kidding. I would never do that." I said with a tint of drama. "I think." I bluffed.
"Let's go back, I got a match coming." I said looking at him. His face displaying more exhaustion than usual, I think he was fed up of my bullshit, and I giggled some more, he shook his head, but was interrupted when a piercing sound cut through, like the crackling sound of a big ice block, we looked at each other and started jogging back to see what was going on, my mind darting to the culprit, first suspect, Todoroki.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.
I was on the arena, facing Kaminari, we were both smirking as we were waiting for the start signal.
'He will definitely try to end it as fast as possible. With his electric quirk, I have to prepare a bit. Hmmm, maybe I should accelerate my cells to make new skin tissue. I also have to keep it to a minimum around the brain, so maybe I should use my left hand as a conductor, if I ever hope to heal fast enough to win.'
I stirred my cells to make new skin tissue fast, as I prepared for the battle to begin, letting my hair fall on my back, electricity already jumping around, filling in the air.
"Ready! START!" the announcing voice roared.
"Incriminate shock, 1.3 million volts." He shouted, his blonde hair flying fiercely around him, as he sent a giant sock wave towards me.
I raised my left hand fast to let the electricity enter through it, but the instant it made contact with me, my whole body convulsed at the high voltage, muscles spasming wildly, hot burning pain filling through every inch of my body. I fell completely on my back, suppressing a cry.
Everything was numb around me, my ears drumming, heart beating way to fast as I felt the electricity leaving my body.
'Dot pas ou.'
I just sat there, unmoving for a minute, feeling the lingering sensation of being ripped apart.
'Breth, com.' I tried to think but failing.
I tried to focus as hard as possible to heal myself starting with the brain, my whole body being hyper alert now, relying on impulse.
"Haruno is no longer capable to move, so the...what is that?" Present Mic inquired.
I turned my whole body around, hair crazed around from the electricity, and slowly pushed myself up, the old skin took some of the damage and started shedding, my head dropping slightly sideway.
In a surge of instinct, with my body still numb, I dashed to Kaminari, and kicked him straight in the chest, the force throwing him out of bounds.
"HARUNO IS THE WINNER." and the whole crowd started to shout.
I felt burned out, and fell on my bum.
'The bastard really gave his all.' I sat a few more minutes, healing myself and trying to regain control. Two robots went next to me to pick me up to take me to the infirmary, but I shook my head and got up on my legs. I left the arena and made my way to the shower room, planning on taking a nap afterwards in the waiting room, till my next fight, or so I thought.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.
I woke up, when I felt something on top of me.
Slowly I opened my eyes to a worried Uraraka.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, but your hair is still wet and didn't want you to get sick." she spoke softly.
"It's alright." I said, raising my head from the table, feeling a cover falling off of me, it was a jacket, Uraraka's.
"I feel better now anyway. Thanks for covering me." I smiled at her and she reciprocated it, but her eyes said something else.
"Sit." I said, patting the chair next to me.
"Something is bothering you. Let's girl talk it out." I suggested and she nodded softly. She sat down and we were both quiet for a minute, waiting for her to gather her thoughts.
"I am terrified of the match, I just don't know if I stand a chance against Bakugo." she spoke, her head hanging low, face being obscured by hair. I just stayed silent.
"I also feel like I depended too much on Deku and Iida, everybody is giving their all, they are always there to help me out. I feel so ashamed of myself."
"Let me tell you a story. Ten years ago, I used to hang out with two boys, one is a loud prankster and the other one is cold and driven.
We were paired by the school, and each group was provided with a pro hero to train them.
The boys have quirks more suited for fighting in comparison to me, they are from renowned families, I am not, I was always the one dragging them down, until one day, they suddenly left, I looked everywhere for them only to find out from the school administrator that they left to train. Where? No one told me. That was way before I realised that I can mess up a person's body with my quirk and learned to fight properly. I felt so abandoned, ashamed of my abilities and for not seeing it sooner. From that point I did my absolute best in everything, not to make people around me proud, but to become the person that makes a difference in any situation." I finished jacket tight in my hands, I softly let it go and continued.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to talk so much." I said a bit flustered. She jumped from her chair and started shaking her palms towards me.
"No, actually I, it made me realise some things, thank..." but Iida entered, not soon followed by Deku.
"Hey, Uraraka!" Deku started, but I raised from my chair and whispered to Uraraka.
"Show us all you've got." And she nodded firmly. I left them to talk and made my way back to the rest of my class. I sat next to Tokoyami.
"Ohh, this is gonna be exciting." I exclaimed to Tokoyami.
"Rather cruel to call it exciting." he replied monotone.
"Not in this case." I said certain.
Uraraka and Bakugo got to their positions, waiting for the starting signal, and as soon as they announced it, Uraraka dashed to him, when she was close enough to Bakugo, he set an explosion in her face.
"Holy hell, is he really going all out on her...! Against a girl as an opponent..." the crowd booed.
"What the fuck do you mean against a girl, he is taking her seriously, so you should too, just because she is a girl she doesn't need a pity party from you, so shut the fuck up." I jumped, snarling from the top of my lungs, leaning over the railing, when suddenly something grabbed my torso, pulling me back on the seat, it was Tokoyami's shadow, I looked at him annoyed for stopping my angry rant, and let out a sigh, calming myself.
"Thanks." I muttered to him.
"You were just blocking the view." he said impassive, not turning his head at me.
"That's not nice of you." I grunted.
"Who says I have to be." he replied with a half-smile, I faked a huff as we turned our attention back to the match.
Uraraka managed to trick Bakugo with her jacket, and approach from behind, but he was faster and attacked her again with an explosion, but she was fast on her legs, going at him.
'He has way too good reflexes, but one touch from her and it's over for him. Hmm, they are quite an opposite duo, he uses instinct and force, where she uses tactic and persistence, they could be quite a ship, if I say so myself, kyaaaa, so cute. No, stop it, don't stop, fucking stop shipping people, but it's innocent, aghhhh. Pay attention to the match goddammit.' And I continued to watch the "cute " duo.
The attacks continued to come to Uraraka, when I noticed that through the smoke pebbles were floating. 'Ooooh, I cannot wait.' I thought, when suddenly another douchebag started to shout that is was cruel to toy with her. I got up my chair to scream again, but Tokoyami grabbed me again, when Aizawa-Sensei's voice boomed in.
"Who just said he's toying with her? You a pro? How many years?"
"If you said that in your right mind, then there's no meaning for you to keep watching, do us all a favour and go home."
"You tell him Aizawa-Sensei." I shouted from my chair, restrained by Tokoyami and Deku now.
"He clearly recognizes the strength of an opponent who's reached this far and is on guard as a result. It's because he's doing everything in his power to win, that he's refusing to let his guard down." he finished.
Uraraka was talking and made her gravity release sign, and ran to get him off guard, as the rocks started to fall.
Bakugo, as the beast he is, blasted all of the rocks in one shot, the explosion was so big, everybody was pushed back.
"Holy shoot." I blurted out.
Bakugo was getting ready to finish her for good, when in the middle of the way she fell down, Midnight approached her and declared her unable to move, so Bakugo was the winner. I got up, restrained no more, and ran as fast as possible to Uraraka in the infirmary. I entered, bowed to Recovery Girl and got near the brown haired girl, as she was being bandaged.
"I can help you heal." I tried to grab her arm to heal when suddenly, I got hit on the head by the Recovery Girl and she yelled at me.
"No you don't, young lady, you are still in the tournament. If you still plan on helping me around in the future, you will not heal her further." she talked sternly at me, Uraraka just looked at us.
"But obaa-san!" I whined, but she turned sharply at me with a dead serious face.
"No but's." Letting out a sigh I turned to Uraraka to congratulate her for her performance.
"Uraraka-chan, that was marvelous, I was really already excited to see you fight, but that exceeded my expectations. You are so sneaky." I finished smirking at her, she beamed back.
"Yeah, that was really intense, I wouldn't have thought that I can hold on for so long against Bakugo."
"He is a beast."
"Definetely." she agreed, then both started giggling.
"You coming?" I asked, she just shook her head.
"I have to do something first."
"Okay. See you soon." I waved at her and ran back, dropping on my seat next to Tokoyami, just in time to see Kirishima win the arm wrestling.
Soon enough Todoroki's and Deku's match arrived.
Author note: It's going to take a bit longer from now on, cause I want to write longer chapters, I would love to hear your opinion on my story and if I wrote any mistakes.
I want to thank Vetla12 for leaving a review, again the timing was perfect.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Boku no Hero Academia, just this plot.