Desperate, Bakugou finally reaches Uraraka. But it's not enough to just be heard; she needs to feel for him too.
As I said, this was originally a one-shot that got expanded. It's occurring over a 2, almost 3, day period. So this is it! She really needs to find him. Stat.
"I gotta get out of here." Uraraka breathed raggedly to herself, wrapping up in a towel to fetch fresh clothes from her closet. The shower hadn't done much to scrub the fear off of her.
Though, stepping out of the bathroom wasn't as bad as she expected. The strong thing from earlier was definitely gone, but the shadow of something lingered, and it was freaking her out.
When she dropped the towel, a flare of the specter shocked her skin and her arm hairs raised. She quickly slipped on her summer dress and undershorts, her fear turning to anger.
This was her home, and she wanted it back.
"Shit Cheeks! Seriously." Bakugou growled out, slamming his hands over his eyes. Annoyed that he was unable to shake the image of her curves and strong lines from his mind.
In his outburst and delayed response to her naked form, he didn't see her notice him. "Okay! That's it! Show yourself! I know I'm not crazy!" She yelled, looking around, waiting to see something happen.
Surprised, he turned back to her, getting in her face. "I'm right here. I've been trying to reach you, and I don't know what the fuck else to do Uraraka. You...you gotta...help me…" he strained a bit, hating his reliance on her.
She stood, still unseeing.
"Please." He added. Hoping somehow this quirk would course-correct if he was nice enough.
He needed this to work. But the silence between them left him to sit in the unsettling feelings within.
Seeing the light bouncing off the honey of her eyes, the minute movement of her full lips as she breathed, the resolve she held herself with struck him heavy. He was growing too used to this ache. At this point, he couldn't deny he found it pleasant. Found her pleasant.
This girl…."Uraraka…" he choked out, staggering back at their proximity, shutting down whatever awful ache was churning inside him while she clenched her chest, feeling something too.
But he just wanted out. Not to feel...this.
After a moment, both of them realized nothing was happening.
But where Uraraka retreated to her room and under the blanket of her futon for comfort. Bakugou slowly simmered in rage.
Then he exploded.
"Come on Uraraka! Aren't you the fuckstick that thinks you know everything about me?! Huh!? You wanna fight me?! Huh? THEN HEAR ME, GODDAMMIT! I'm right here, and I need your help!" He swore, violently stomping around the apartment, smacking into things he couldn't quite touch, purposefully disturbing everything in his path until he reached her, laying down beside her on the floor next to her bed, practically nose-to-nose, angry tears in his eyes. "I'M DYING!"
Uraraka sat up, eyes scanning the floor.
There was an echo of something fierce and familiar that she'd felt before, right in front of her.
It was like having a word on the tip of her tongue and being unable to recall it.
Whatever this was, this thing she could feel, it was loud and full of...rage. Not legitimately intimidating but just the flash of it, like a show of force without a battle. Something she recognized.
She did.
She...knew this. Would know this anywhere.
It was so familiar, so very…
"...Bakugou-kun?"
Something inside her snapped.
Bakugou jumped up to her level, sitting on his knees before Uraraka to put his hands up to the sides of her face, letting his fingers touch her as if he could direct her attention to him, hoping it helped.
Uraraka blinked slowly at the sensation and the usual chill surfaced across her skin.
"YES!" Bakugou exclaimed, blinking rapidly in relief.
"Bakugou-kun!" She gasped, closing her eyes, straining to hear as something echoed inside her again.
She waited.
Daring to hope, he spoke again, "Yes! Uraraka, please tell me you hear me."
"Oh my god?! What...what's happening? What is this?" She asked into the empty space before her, hearing Bakugou's voice as if they were separated by a kilometer long tunnel.
"Uraraka, it's a quirk! I'm dying! I need you to take your flower and find my body! There's not a whole lotta time!"
"It...it is you! Bakugou-kun, was that really you last night too?! I'm so sorry!" She apologized, guilt-ridden about her reaction to him earlier. "Who did this to you?! I can...get the police, the teachers - we can stop them, they won't get away with this!"
If it were possible, he knew his heart would have clutched at her words. But there wasn't time to think about it. "NO! LISTEN! Someone did this to protect me. Just take your flower, the orange one! Find me! I'm buried at Hinode Park, somewhere marked by a yellow flower that looks the same. When you do, burn both flowers, and I'll come back."
"Hinode?! That's...just two blocks over. I... don't understand…"
"It is?!" He shook his head, frustrated with how close he'd been from the beginning, "Nevermind. You don't need to understand. Just go! That big thing you felt earlier wanted me to go with them, and when my flower dies, I don't have a choice."
"O...okay." Looking confused and a little broken, Uraraka lept up, rushing into the kitchen to pluck her flower from the cup.
He watched as she frantically searched a drawer, pulling something out and then grabbed a small purse and keys before sprinting out the front door. And just like before, whatever brought him to her went taut like a string and pulled him along with her.
"Are you there? Bakugou-kun?" She asked, feet traversing stairs and leaving the property, running the short distance to the park. "This is so strange. Are you sure you're at Hinode?"
"Yeh, Xochitl must've kept me near you to make it easy." He followed.
"Well, that's dangerous. Anyone could find you there." She huffed at the news, picking up the pace as she entered the park, "Who is Xochitl?"
"Someone on our side. Listen, I'm not sure where I am, so just...you have to try and find me."
"How?" She asked, crashing through the tree line of a densely wooded area at the entrance of the park, already scanning the ground.
"I…," he thought for a moment, unsure, or unwilling to accept that he finally knew the pattern, "think about me. Anything...good."
"Good?"
Bakugou tsked at that. "Listen, I know I…haven't been…"
"...No, it's okay. Don't worry Bakugou-kun. I think I understand. It just surprised me." She waved him off, her cheeks growing a shade darker as she prepared to reveal her deepest thoughts to the person she'd only said pieces out loud to.
He was counting on her, after all.
"You're Bakugou-kun! You're loud but cool." She searched, smacking away branches catching her hair, crunching the ground while jogging along, "Vulgar but funny. Confident and strong, but..." she hesitated. Running beside her, Bakugou listened in rapt attention. "but...sometimes weak at matters of the heart. Despite that, I'd switch places with you in a heartbeat if I could, just to know what it's like to win. To be amazing and crazy powerful…"
Something wrenched hard in their chests before she could continue.
Then, Uraraka suddenly knew exactly where to go. Like a hound catching a scent, she broke into a sprint.
"I...I can feel you." She said, hoping Bakugou was still near her.
The feeling grew as she got closer to him. Her heart pounded with a heaviness so overwhelming it hurt. It felt as though she could break down on the spot if she didn't stay focused.
"You're so close! Where are you!?" She cried out, the pull to him causing panic to rise in her throat as she frantically checked the ground. Feeling like she was on a precipice, the soles of her feet tingled with dread like she was missing steps on a stair. "How long have you been here?"
"Almost two days." He ran beside her.
She didn't respond, eyes finally spotting a large mound of freshly disturbed dirt with a pile of drying petals below a yellow flower a short distance away. "Oh god, Bakugou-kun." Uraraka gasped, running and sliding to a stop on her knees to dig at the soil, slowly revealing cool flesh, and ash-blonde hair, a small hiccup escaping her at the sight.
Bakugou buzzed, feeling her touch through his body, and watching light pool from every corner of the forest, concentrating next to Uraraka.
Her breath came out cold like winter somehow invaded the summer. Something was coming again.
"Hurry." He barked, eyeing her as she hurriedly dug through her bag.
"I know." She shivered, her body again reacting to the weight of the new presence very near.
Her trembling hands pulled out a match and struck it alight. Without hesitation, she placed her well-cared for blossom beside his and set them both ablaze, then vanished from his sight.
He grit his teeth, hiding his apprehension. "Uraraka?" He was somewhere, or nowhere, too dark to be soothing.
A form of dense light, part human, part snake-like, with eyes like voids, appeared.
"Niltze," it greeted him.
"This is bullshit, she found me. So whaddya want now?" He asked, stance low and ready to fight for what was left of his life.
"Bakugou Katsuki…" The light hissed softly. "I am only here to wish you new beginnings until we meet in the next cycle."
"That's it? No tricks, I can leave?" He asked skeptically.
The figure hissed a broken laugh; it's black eyes gazing directly into him. "Life and Death are ceaseless. There is no need for tricks. You will see me again one day, in some form or another."
Tch.
"Much luck. Xiauh ica cualtzin."
And with a rather polite bow, the form dissolved, taking the light with it, leaving Bakugou in pitch black and unable to move.
"Bakugou-kun?" He heard Uraraka shout from afar. "BAKUGOU-KUN! Please, wake up!" She shouted louder, strength and pain bleeding through her words. But he couldn't reach where she was, and it seemed she couldn't hear him anymore.
"Uraraka! Pull me out! I'm right here!" He implored, still unseeing and lost, feeling like he was floating away somewhere he'd never come down from.
In the dark he felt things, physical pain and pressure across what he assumed were his chest and lips.
It hurt. It ached so bad.
What was wrong? "Come on! Let me out of here! We did everything you asked!" He said, knowing full well Xochitl and those gods couldn't hear him. Or maybe they could, and they were laughing, mocking his predicament.
"You said I could go! She found me, she torched the flowers, she called for...me...fuck..." Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!
Of course. How well he and Uraraka knew each other, thinking warmly of each other - all of that seemed to be the biggest fucking deal for this quirk. Finishing the connection through his given fucking name would be some bullshit cherry on top.
"Uraraka! URARAKA! My name, you need to say my name!"
The echo of her desperate screams for him reverberated low and distant, like a signal slowly fading. The sound of it distressed him even more, hurt him somewhere deep, and he hated that she was experiencing it over him. It wasn't how his life was supposed to work.
The pressure on his chest didn't let up. Over and over like something was pushing and filling, pushing and filling - the heat of it filtering through insides he didn't have.
He was dying now, for sure, he knew it.
He needed to get out! Needed to reach her.
"OCHAKOOOOO!" He screamed into the abyss with every bit of his existence and strength he had left. "CALL FOR ME! SAY MY NAME - NOW!"
He waited in the silence, hoping. Wishing he could simply touch her. Because as weird as it seemed, he wanted to feel that wretched, satisfying, tug for her again. It was his only comfort in this madness, and the thought of it and all his feelings for anything and everything - leaving, frightened him.
"Katsuki-kun!" Her voice suddenly resounded around him, the echoes bouncing and booming through him as though he could feel her reaching out. He watched as the waves of sound set off a path of light before him, orange and bright, made of those stupid fucking flowers.
"Katsuki! Come back! Please! I've got you! I'm trying so hard!" He didn't miss the catch of her breath, the sob at the end like she didn't know what to do.
"Yes!" He ran, feeling that precious tug, the path rippling brightly with each of her words. He headed to something else he couldn't quite see, overwhelmed by a white-hot light.
Then a deep trembling gasp for breath filled the air.
"Uraraka." He wheezed, his open mouth grazing against soft flesh before he heard her gasp as he struggled to breathe. His hands reached up to grab whatever was so close while his eyes adjusted to the dim light in the forest.
Warm hands pulled on his, and before he knew it, he was being enveloped in an even warmer embrace.
"Katsuki-kun!" Uraraka cried, shoulders shuddering. "I'm sorry! I was trying so hard, but I couldn't hear you anymore. You went away, and you wouldn't wake. I tried chest compressions and everything. I was so worried! But, then I heard you one more time and you were barely there, and I said your name like you asked. Then it was just like magic! It was like I could feel myself grabbing onto you, somewhere inside! It was nuts!" She spilled out, breathing hard and fast, unable to hide her crying.
"Get off Chako!" He panted, sensing her body flex with tension. He tested a push against her, but nothing happened. His strength diminished.
"Oh! Uh sorry! Here, let me help." She apologized and wiped away tears on her brightening cheeks, too invested in his care to worry about something as silly as given names. She pulled him up while his mind processed and remembered how to function.
"Wow, you're freezing! Come on, let's get you to my apartment and call Aizawa sensei and your parents."
"No!" He inhaled raggedly, the labor of it too sharp still. "The police. First. Then U.A." It felt like his lungs were remembering how to take in air.
"Right! I gotcha, my quirk'll help." She wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled one of his over her shoulder so that he was suddenly weightless and being pulled along beside her.
Meaning, he didn't shy away from her hold.
Uraraka had no way to know this was a feat countless people had tried (mostly Deku) and failed at.
And for once he was content to be aided.
Out of the woods and into the sunlight, his body flipped to autopilot the couple of blocks there, eager to absorb Uraraka's heat, so it recharged his.
Along the way she used her phone to alert the police, Bakugou insisting they go to check on his parents to let them know he was alive.
When they finally stepped through the door of Uraraka's apartment, it felt strange and surreal.
They'd never interacted outside of school before, and yet here he was, welcomed like any other friend into her home, and not a ghost, or whatever.
"Sit down. I'll make something while we wait." She insisted, settling him on a cushion at her low table and releasing her quirk. He landed with a grunt while she went to her kitchenette, looking completely unsure about whatever she wanted to do.
"Now you're just pissing me off." He scoffed, getting up to push her out of the space.
He only needed a moment to catch up, not to be treated like a child that couldn't care for himself.
Uraraka gawked as he took the tools from where her parents put them away the night before to start cooking, dismayed at what his knowledge implied.
"Relax. It's not a big deal."
"It is to me. You were here long enough, and I didn't even notice." She frowned in concern, pulling a chair closer to monitor him. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." He snapped, "Just need to think about what to do next." He said, already itching to find Xochitl and figure out why he was targeted.
"And you did notice; you were just really fucking slow." He said aloud, ignoring what had actually triggered all their moments of real connection. "I think the quirk was meant for family members or people that are already really close to help each other. So it's okay. We did the best we could with a little less than a day to spare. It's over now." He sighed.
For now, he just wanted to do something normal, and concentrate on how good it felt to get out of that quirk. Despite his indifferent demeanor, he felt a bit giddy and neede to let it out.
"Well, I'm glad. You scared me back there." She responded, sounding like she was about to cry again. "And…"
Pulling items from her fridge, he shut the door with a bang, trying to stop her from putting words to anything they experienced. "Don't go gettin' mushy and shit, everything's fine now."
"No! It's not okay Ka...Bakugou-kun."
He stalled at the sound of his name, fingers buzzing.
"You could've...we…I...I almost didn't get my rematch!" She stuttered out, the bite of her words making him stop his food prep altogether.
She looked perfectly fucking serious, and he knew it wasn't what she initially wanted to say. And as much as he was afraid to hear what she really thought, all he could do was let out an ugly, stilted, hissing version of a cackle that he tried to hide behind a hand.
Unwillingly, she cracked a confused smile. "What's so funny about this?" She'd never seen him laugh.
"I almost died Round Face. That's insensitive as fuck." He sputtered harder.
But he found it difficult even to pretend to give a shit as she stepped toward him looking guilty as all get out.
"Relax Cheeks, I'm joking."
She chuckled, feeling a bit bashful. "Oh good, I...figured. I err...didn't know how to say…"
"That'd you'd miss the hell outta me if I died." He grinned evilly, his shoulders shaking off the remnants of laughter.
She huffed, the redness of her cheeks so deep she could signal traffic. Stealing the veggies from him, she pulled a knife from a drawer, which he then plucked from her grip before pushing her aside.
"Don't worry about it. Death itself couldn't keep me from handing your ass to you again. If that's what you want." He said, working diligently to ignore her wide-eyed stare.
She remained silent, looking flustered enough for the both of them.
He couldn't deny that damn tug was still there. Somewhere between them, begging him to fully face her.
Shit, he thought that would be over and done with once he was back.
"By the way..." he said, focused intently on chopping while she marveled at his skill, hoping to distract himself from this feeling. "...Uraraka…"
But, so what? He felt what he felt, big deal. Maybe the thing in the light from earlier was right.
"Yes?"
This was just a new beginning.
"...Thanks."
Uraraka's cheeks puffed, happiness tugging at the corners of her lips, and Bakugou's heart really did thud this time, with nothing to blame but his own damn body.
Not to say he wouldn't try to make excuses.
Stupid flowers.
XD And that's that. His kidnapping was foiled, the trip was canceled, his family was untouched, the villains had no recourse or way to reach him, and now UA can be sure about the existence of the traitor way sooner. Plus they have my OC on their side XD Mwahaha.
I don't know how this would change the story, whether it's good or bad, all I know is I got my kacchako in the end. I mean, they don't get together here, but, starting to realize you like someone...a lot...XD is good enough for me. XD And my culture was a decent-ish plot device for these hopeless kids to find each other (although I do have soooo much in background for Xochtil because I love them sooo much! and I think they are such a cool person)