A/N: Here's a warning that I never thought I'd use, but since half the population does not experience this I figured it was better to be safe. Warning: brief mentions of periods. Nothing graphic, but if you're sensitive to girl issues skip the last segment starting with 'Momo woke up at four o'clock'
Momo sat up, startled by her unfamiliar surroundings. As she looked around wildly at the inside of the tent, her memories started to slowly seep back.
"Good morning!" Ochako said brightly.
"Good morning," Momo yawned.
"I made breakfast," Ochako proclaimed proudly, presenting Momo with a bowl of rice that was decorated to form a smiling face.
"For luck," she explained.
"Thank you," Momo said, "I'm going to need it."
Ochako laughed.
"No, you won't. You'll be just fine. You already survived the first day. After that, training should be a piece of cake. Just play nice with the other kids, unless the other kids want to fight. Then you have to kick the other kids's butt, grinding them into the dust so that they can never again challenge you."
Momo's eyes widened at the overly violent advice.
"Is that what dragons do?"
"We have claws and fire for a reason, honey."
Momo swallowed her rice nervously.
"I think I'll just try to keep a low profile instead."
Jiro chirped, jumping up and down.
"Then you better hurry," Ochako said, "apparently the rest of the troops are lining up."
Momo cursed, hastily pulling her hair into a topknot and shoving her feet into her shoes.
She wasn't completely late, but late enough that gaps in the line were scarce. After a moment's hesitation she fell in next to the black-haired boy, Sero, she had met yesterday. Too late she realised that Bakugou stood on the other side of her.
"Morning," Sero said.
Bakugou growled something. Kirishima, who stood next to him, elbowed him.
"Come on, dude. You promised."
"Fine," Bakugou hissed. He turned to Momo, "tha- th- thank - you. For - yesterday."
Kirishima elbowed him again.
"And I'm sorry, okay?" he exploded.
"Oh, uhm, that's okay-"
"Don't patronise me! I don't need you or anyone else covering for my mistakes!"
Kirishima interrupted him.
"What Bakugou means, is that he's sorry for being a jerk and that he hopes that we can can start over," Kirishima held out his hand, "I'm Kirishima. And this is Bakugou, obviously. You are?"
"Mo-Midoriya."
"Nice to meet you, Midoriya."
Just then the captain and his secretary exited the tent and the line became silent.
"Attention!" Iida shouted.
Momo did her best to stand up straight and, most importantly, to look as little like a woman as she could.
Shoto looked up and down the line of new recruits. They looked a little more organised this morning, but they were still far from soldiers. Some of them didn't even look like men; more like children dressed in their father's armour.
Shoto knocked an arrow and aimed it at the pole that stood in the middle of the training grounds. The arrow sank into the wood with a dull thunk.
"Any volunteers to retrieve the arrow?"
Momo swallowed nervously. She understood now how other people must feel when the teacher called for a volunteer. She eyed the pole. It must have been at least ten metres tall and she couldn't see handholds of any kind.
"I'll do it," Bakugou said, stepping forward.
Momo let out a small sigh of relief.
"Here," Shoto said, removing two weights from a box that Iida held, "you'll need these."
"Are you kidding me?" Bakugou said as the weights dragged his hands down.
"No, I'm perfectly serious."
He certainly looked it. Momo wondered briefly whether the scar over his left eye somehow affected his ability to change his expression or whether the blank-faced look was simply a matter of personality.
"Fine," Bakugou said, "I can do it even with the weights."
Bakugou's quirk apparently allowed him to create explosions. He used it now to launch himself at the top of the pole. He came so close that Momo thought he would make it, but then the weights pulled him back down.
Shoto didn't seem surprised by his failure.
"Next one."
They all took turns trying to retrieve the arrow. They all failed. The rest of the recruits all tried to use their quirk in some way. Momo did not. Since her brother was - had been - registered as quirkless, her quirk was another thing she had to hide.
The line reassembled with bruised backsides and equally bruised prides. Shoto sighed.
"Let's begin with the basics. How to march without falling over each other."
They spent the rest of the day marching from one end of the training grounds to the other. Momo did not expect it to be as difficult as it was.
The rest of the training followed a similar pattern. Momo lost count of how many times she had fallen and she now had a truely impressive number of bruises. By the end of the week she became less worried about keeping her gender a secret and more worried about simply passing basic training.
Momo's father had taught her and her brother how to shoot when they were little so she thought that maybe the archery training would be something that she could do. Her jaw dropped when she saw what the captain expected of them though.
"If I hadn't just seen him do it, I would say it's impossible," she whispered to Sero.
"I saw it and I still think it's impossible," he replied, "and least Kirishima can't make the rest of us fall into a river during this exercise."
"I told you," Kirishima protested, "there was a frog on the next pole. I couldn't just jump on it."
"Then you should have jumped to the next pole, you idiot," Bakugou grouched, "not stopped and let the rest of us crash into you."
Momo joined in with the other two's laughter. Even though the training was beyond difficult she found that she was coming to enjoy spending time with the other recruits. At first they had terrified her, not only because they could find out about her secret, but also because they were loud and intimidating. Now, however, she had grown used to them and could actually consider them as friends. Even Bakugou.
Momo knocked her arrow and took aim. After her tenth try she was beginning to agree with Sero. The exercise was impossible. She couldn't get her timing and coordination right. Either she launched the fruit too soon or she shot too late. Either way, she missed.
Ochako frowned.
"This is so rigged," she glared at Shoto, "well two can play at that game."
Before Momo could stop her she speared one of the fruits on the tip of the arrow. Of course that was the moment the captain looked over at her. He looked from Momo to the fruit. She smiled sheepishly. He walked over to her.
'Oh, dear heavens. Can I get kicked out for this?'
"Listen, I know the exercise may seem futile and impossible. I can understand that you'd be tempted to cheat. But cheating won't benefit you at all."
Wait. He wasn't kicking her out. Or really scolding her even.
"We could have just painted a bunch of bullseyes on the trees and had you shoot at those. But your enemies won't be stationary. If you want to survive you have learn to shoot moving targets."
"Understood, sir."
"Good," he nodded to the fruit, "now you'd better get rid of that before Iida sees you."
Momo woke up at four o'clock in the morning with the painful certainty that it was going to be a horrible day. No, scratch that - a horrible week. She let out a sound that only the similarly afflicted would understand.
"What's wrong?" Ochako asked.
Jiro chirped in concern.
"Cramps."
"Oh you poor dear. Wait, I know!"
Ochako curled up on her stomach like a cat and immediately began to radiate a magnificent, soothing warmth.
Although she was able to get back to sleep thanks to Ochako, she was still tired when she walked into the mess hall for breakfast and she felt too nauseous to eat much.
Of course the captain chose today of all days for a twenty kilometre hike.
For the first two, Momo actually did pretty well. She even managed to almost keep up with Bakugou. By the third, she started to fall behind. By the fourth, she was right at the back.
When they took a break at the five kilometre mark the captain came up to her.
"Are you sick? Do you need to go see the medic?"
"No, I'm fine."
It took considerable effort but she managed to straighten up from where she was bent almost double.
He gave her a look that said he knew she was lying, but he thankfully didn't press the issue.
During kilometre six, Momo's stomach decided to empty itself of what little breakfast she had managed to eat.
"You're done for the day," the captain said.
Momo's heart sank. "I can keep going."
"No, you're going back camp. You'll be useless if you end up killing yourself. Iida, make sure he gets back to camp."
Having to be escorted back would just add insult to injury so Momo quickly reassured the captain that she could make it back on her own.
"This one should probably go back too, sir," Iida said, supporting one of the other recruits who had overused his quirk yesterday and apparently still hadn't recovered.
"All right."
Momo and the other recruit – his name was Aoyama if she remembered correctly – set off dejectedly back to camp. They hadn't gone very far before Aoyama groaned, curling forward.
"Are you okay?"
"I might be about to faire vomir."
Mom wasn't't sure what that word meant but judging by his green toned expression she could guess.
"Here," she said, offering him some of the ginger that she always carried around with her – a habit she had picked up from her grandmother.
"Ah, merci."
She sat down beside him, giving him some time to recover. Honestly, she needed a break just as badly.
"When you use your quirk, is it always this bad?" she asked.
"Sometimes it's worse. At least the pain is a bit better today."
"How long do the aftereffects usually last?"
"It depends, but usually around three days."
"If your quirk causes you so much pain, why use it at all?"
Aoyama didn't answer immediately, likely thinking about how to put his response into words.
"Because it's a part of me. My quirk may have more drawbacks than others, but it can still be useful and I know that if I just persevere it will be worth it."
Momo thought about how she had insisted on going to school even when her cramps were really bad and most other girls stayed home when they were on their period in any case. She knew it was just stubbornness and it was probably stupid, but it was what she wanted. So she could understand why Aoyama would push himself when it made more sense to quit.
"You good to go?" she asked.
Aoyama looked determined.
"Oui."
After about a month of training, Momo began to relax. Sure she wasn't doing great, but she had managed to keep her secret so far. She didn't even think her friends were suspicious.