Suri and Grandma have a talk. Then it's off to the second day of school where she gets to see some long lost family and gets to have a battle test. She gets to face off against a friend and they get to discover who is the better woman. Do you smell something burning?
Suri panted as she hopped the fence back into the Kuroyashi compound, padding across the stone walkway through the garden and into the sliding door that led to the home's living room area. She had a handful of her shirt that she had been wearing and pulled it up to use the bottom of it as a towel to dry her brow and forehead from sweat. Her nose flared as she smelled the warm lemon scent of tea and her eyes flicked to where her grandmother was standing.
"So, she started talking to you?" the old woman questioned with a soft smile.
"You could tell?" Suri paused and blinked a few times.
"I felt your energy rolling a little smoother than it has been lately. It comes with the territory," she shrugged and took a long sip. "As we get older or as we get stronger, your relationship with the beast inside you tends to… develop." She had to search for that last word, though she didn't seem entirely satisfied with it.
Suri had a thought and pondered on it for a long moment, thinking back to her dad, brothers, and moms. There were times she had found them talking to themselves, or talking to someone who wasn't there… unless they actually were.
"Yes, you'll probably start talking to yourself a lot more."
Grandma couldn't read minds, right? That wasn't her Quirk.
"Great, so I'm going to mumble a lot," Suri rolled her eyes. She thought to ask about the little private world that her and her beast had inhabited together but shook it off. "So… yours. What's your relationship like? You know…"
"Oh, Auska and I?" she laughed brightly. "We've been, as you would put it, tight, since I came into my power. I won't be surprised if you two struggle at first, we all do in the beginning."
"So… they all have a name?"
"Mhmm, they do. Most of them anyway. And the sooner you learn her name," a smile crossed the matriarch's lips and she bared a little fang as her eyes rolled to black and blue kitty cat eyes. "The less problems you'll have, sweet little ones."
The last bit after the pause sent a shiver through Suri's body and froze her in place. Not only did a spine tingling amount of power and energy roll through the entire room, hell, probably the entire compound, but her voice had power. It made Suri want to go on one knee and bow in respect. It felt wrong not to. Her grandma's voice had sounded fuller, more dominant, and even with her warm tone, more commanding because with that last bit, Suri knew it wasn't just the kind little old lady talking. The leopard queen herself had spoken.
Wait. She had heard a double voice like that before. Suri thought about how her dad had used that booming roar of an echoed voice to subdue villains and criminals. Now she knew why it scared the shit out of them.
"Now, run along or you'll be late for school."
Suri nodded and looked up, staring at the old woman in the kitchen for a long second or two more before turning and heading for the bathroom to get ready. The voice that had spoken was her grandmothers but it felt different in an oddly familiar sort of way. When she thought about how it sounded like her but not at the same time the knowledge instantly clicked inside Suri's head. Yes it was Grandma Kuroyashi standing there sipping her tea, but it had been Asuka that had been the one to speak.
Suri stared into the mirror after she had stripped, thinking about what her grandma and her beast had said with the knowledge that; yes the body she was looking at was hers but not entirely. Her eyes traced over the lines of her muscles, the smoothness of her skin despite the prevalent scarring, the thick cloud of raven curls, and then the yellow green of her eyes. The thought stayed with her as she stepped into the shower, soaking herself with waterfalls of hot water that bathed her in relief, and then as she stepped out to see the full mirror fogged heavily with steam. Before she grabbed for her towel to dry herself and retreat back to her room to get ready for school, she drew her right finger across the misty glass and smirked a little as her fingertip squeaked against the surface as she wrote.
A little questioning note to herself.
WHO ARE YOU?
The question had stuck with her the entire day from the train ride to the UA station, into the school, through English with Present Mic, Art with Midnight, homeroom with Mr. Aizawa, and then lunch. She had been mumbling to herself off and on nearly the entire day into lunch and it was only Tooru's grip on her elbow that had taken her out of the trance she had been in.
"Hey, are you okay, Suri?"
"Yeah, you've been kinda out of it all day," Mina added. Both of them, when Suri met eyes with them, were looking at her like she had a massive fever or maybe grown a second head.
The latter… could be true?
"Yeah, sorry. I've just had something on my mind all day."
"Oh!." Mina exclaimed excitedly, turning to look to Suri with wide eyes. "You've got a crush on one of the guys in our class!"
"Maybe~"
Suri's eyes went wide and she froze in place.
"Hmmm, maybe one of the girls?" Tooru questioned with a bit too much curiosity.
"We like both~"
Suri quickly clasped her hands over her mouth and stared mortified at her two friends who were nothing but eager and excited. Apparently they lived and breathed for gossip. The voice that had answered them was hers, yes, but it wasn't Suri who had given those answers. Neither Mina or Tooru seemed to notice a difference in her voice and instead just became giddy over the new information they were provided. Do with it what they will.
While the pink and invisible girls happily gushed between themselves over which one or ones that Suri could possibly have a crush on - going so far as adding themselves into the mix - she mentally screamed at the one who had answered them. She wasn't furious. She was not, and never had been, ashamed of her body or her sexuality. She was proud of it. But there was something to be said about getting to know a person. She would have given that information freely at some point if it wasn't obvious at that point. Oh hell, she didn't know why she was upset. It was her that answered, and it was the truth but… at the same time, it wasn't her?
While she grumbled to herself in a confused sense of panic, she tried distracting herself by eating what she had absently picked up. Beef yakisoba, some hearty steamed vegetables, a good sized bowl of rice, and some pork buns for good measure. For being absent minded, she managed to grab a delicious meal at least. Absent minded enough that she hadn't realized that she had sat at the same table as Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Bakugou. And guess who was side eyeing her like she'd done something interesting for once?
She ignored the crimson glare and finished her meal as fast as she could before excusing herself and making her way back to their classroom. Once inside she sat down at her desk and laid her head back and closed her eyes.
"You wanna tell me what the hell that was?"
The question was pointed to her beast but she got no answer. Instead she got the impression that the presence simply curled its lips into the biggest shit eating grin she'd ever seen. She sighed and pulled out a small music player from her bag and placed a pair of mint green buds into her ears. Suri didn't bother searching for anything in particular and just hit play, drowning out her confusion with an assault of loud thundering instruments and a nice mix of screamed and sang vocals.
Ah yes, her happy place.
She stayed in that happy place, bobbing her head with the pace until more than half of the class had returned. As she was putting the player away she noticed Jiro was attentive towards her with a smile.
"I like your taste," the rocker chick said simply.
"Thank you. Music is one of my sanctuaries," Suri replied with a smile. "This little thing's got a little bit of everything on it. Mostly metal, pop punk, hip hop, country, old pop, and the occasional musical thrown in."
"Nice. You like record shopping?"
"My brother, Dante, does. He's the collector in the family. I mostly collect band shirts," she shrugged and frowned ever so slightly for not bringing said collection with her.
Before their conversation could continue the bell rang and Jiro had to turn back to the front of the class. Oh well, maybe they'd continue the conversation later after class. Suri let her mind wander as they awaited their teacher, pondering what they'd be learning today or who their teacher would be. What class was after lunch again?
Before she could think anymore on it, a vividly familiar scent hit her nose like a truck. Her attention instantly was grabbed and pulled forward and she leaned over her desk in anticipation. Her nose flared excitedly as she breathed in eagerly. It wasn't pack that she smelled and she didn't smell pard either but she did recognize the scent.
"I AM HERE! OOF!"
"Uncle All Might!"
The giant of a man was almost taken out by a flying girl who wrapped her arms around his neck and hung from him in glee. She laughed and nuzzled into his neck like she had done so many times before when she was younger when he'd come overseas to visit. As soon as she caught his scent, something that reminded her of the good times at home, instinct had taken over and the beast girl had been running to pounce before he had even opened the door. What had it been, six years since she'd last gotten to pounce him? Six years and he'd still been tall enough to make her dangle when she hugged her uncle like this. It was then that she realized the dire mistake she had made. In front of the entire class.
"Haha! Suri, hey hey! Long time no see!" he let out a booming laugh. "You'll have to tell me about your stay so far after class!"
Class. Oh, right...
Suri dropped from the seven foot tall wall of muscle and turned her head slowy to her classmates, once again mortified. The entire classroom however, erupted with cheers and excitement of the Symbol of Peace himself standing in the doorway. It seemed only Mina, Tooru, Midoriya, and… Bakugou were truly focused on the exchange student who was nervously laughing and wishing she could teleport back to her seat, or erase the last thirty seconds from their minds.
Bad Suri! Very bad!
Once she was in her seat, All Might cleared his throat, getting everyone to quiet down. Their eyes all transfixed up on the monolithic figure that every single one of them, Suri included, looked up to, admired, and strived to be like. Most, if not all, of them wanted to be a pro hero almost exclusively because of the tall blonde man with dark striking features, and piercing blue eyes who was standing proudly in his red and white silver age costume.
"Welcome to the most important class at UA. Think of it as Hero-ing 101," he started like nothing had happened. The consummate professional. "Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight in the name of good! Let's get into it!"
All Might posed like he did so often, almost as much as Aoyoma. He grinned wide and held up a card in his hand with bright red bold lettering reading BATTLE and a mix of emotions flooded the room. Suri and Bakugou both grinned with fanged glee reading the card.
"Today's lesson will pull no punches!"
"Combat training!" the explosion and beast users cheered in unison. The fact that they had a shared moment of interest made them glare at each other and then quickly turn away with a huffed breath.
"But one of the keys of being a hero is," All Might boomed, pulling out a remote. "Is looking good!" When he hit the button a series of panels began emerging from the front of the left wall, each one with a number that referred to their seat in class. "These were designed for you based on your Quirk registration form and requests you sent in before school started. Get yourselves suited up and then meet me at Training Ground Beta!"
As her classmates went for the wall and took the numbered briefcases, Suri quickly slipped outside of the classroom after All Might. She sighed and scratched the back of her head nervously, eyeing the other teenagers out of the corner of her eye.
"Sorry Uncle Toshi. I don't know what came over me."
"Not to worry, kid," he replied with a warm laugh. "Honestly, I knew it would be coming at some point. I don't think I've ever been around you or your dad and not been pounced like that. Hah! Some of my first weight training was fighting off your old man!"
Suri laughed at the thought, and remembered a picture the two of them had from back when they were in UA where her father had jumped onto Toshinori's back. Her dad was grinning ear to ear with a peace sign held high as his friend was trying and failing to keep his balance.
"Yeah, I was kinda running your way before I even knew what was happening. My beast just kinda took over for a second. Sorry."
"Hey hey! Don't apologize!" All Might stood straight and cupped his chin in a thinking pose. "Tell you what, how about I come over when I get some free time and we can have some of your grandmother's tea?"
"I think she'd like that."
"Deal! Now," he motioned towards her classmates exiting the room with their cases. "Better run along and go get suited up with your friends. We'll catch up soon!"
"See you soon, Uncle Toshi," she smiled and bowed before hurrying back into the room, finding her briefcase and then jogging to catch up with the others.
"I can't believe you know All Might!" Uraraka and Midoriya both beamed once Suri had caught up to them and fell into step with them and Iida.
"Yeah!" Mina and Tooru added as they waited up for her so that the six of them walked together.
"I-I mean, you don't have to share anything with us you don't want to," Midoriya quickly added in, holding his hands up in a defensive manner. His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment.
"My dad's a pro in America," Suri shrugged. "He went to UA with All Might and Endeavor back in the day, and him and All Might have been friends ever since."
"Your dad's a pro?" all of them asked together.
"Y-yeah," Suri felt herself shrinking. Even more so when she thought she caught Todoroki looking back at her. His expression was a stoic 'not happy' look.
"Surely, it's nothing to be shameful about. I, myself, am proud of my family's legacy of pro heroes. I hope to live up to my brother's expectations by attending UA and hopefully, one day, be good enough to join him in the field."
Did Iida just puff out his chest?
Suri couldn't quite place where her respect level for Iida had laid until now. It was high. He was high strung, came off as uppity and a little pompous but it came from a place of his own brand of ethics and honor. Suri smiled knowing that she'd broken the robot code. It wasn't that he was a robot, it was just how he saw things; he was a giant boy scout. He was someone that could easily have her back and not think twice about it. She respected that.
Her eyes traced to Midoriya who was lost deep in thought and mumbling profusely, drawing the attention of all of them as they walked. Suri picked up on several things in his long winded approach including her skin color and pros in the states that he could think of that were African American and had Quirks related to beasts, claws, similar eyes, animals. She realized that during the assessment test, even with how he had struggled, he had thoroughly examined her and her Quirk. Interesting.
"Lemme just stop you right there," she let out another deep sigh as she turned to face the greenette and let their eyes meet. Her expression was solemn. "While you were mumbling you got a few things right and, trust me, y'all will get to know my Quirk as school goes on. But just getting this out there; it's Alpha. The Beast of Salt Lake City. That's my dad."
It took a second to click but as soon as it did, Midoriya lit up like the Vegas Strip. He was about to go off with his excitement until his eyes met Suri's again and really looked at them this time. His expression quieted and he understood the meaning behind the proverbial not wanting to have the cat out of the bag.
All of them took the hint.
"Anyway," Suri shrugged and turned around to continue walking towards the locker rooms. "Long story short, All Might has been a figure in my life for… well my entire life. He's the one I've always looked up to, ya know? And since him and my dad are basically like brothers, he's always been Uncle Might."
"Still, you were adorable swinging on him like that," Tooru snickered and Suri was quite sure that somewhere on that invisible face, the girl was grinning maniacally.
"Yeah," Uraraka giggled. "It was super cute!"
"All right all right! I get it!" Suri grumbled, trying to shelve the embarrassment. Looking ahead again she found they were nearing the locker rooms and breathed a sigh of relief. No more personal talks, time to suit up and look like a badass. Right?
"See you boys on the battlefield," Suri gave a half salute to Midoriya and Iida as she opened the door to the locker room and held it for the three other girls. The four of them soon disappeared inside and took a locker, once again their class stuck together in the same area. Suri took a locker opposite Yaoyorozu between Jiro and Hagakure and dropped her blazer into her locker before turning around and eyeing her briefcase.
She popped open the locks, opened the metal shell and let a fang filled grin gross her lips as she caught the first glimpse of her mask. The onyx colored material bended and melded under her finger as she touched it, letting her finger trace over its shape. The top she had designed to replicate the brow of a timberwolf where the shades of fur contrast each other and frame the eyes. The bottom was meant to mimic the markings on great cats with two sharp points that would create a line between her nose and her cheeks, the line would come to swoop under her eyes, creating a dark shadow around them. The mask would frame her eyes in a way that would make the bright yellow green of her irises even more striking when they bled to beast and in the dark would make them practically glow. Intimidation at its best.
Then she glimpsed the main portion of her costume and froze. She reached in, gripped the shoulders of the costume and lifted up, letting the the main piece unfurl.
"Shit…"
She drew the attention of the rest of the girls who all stared at the singlet with mixed reactions. Of course, Tooru and Mina saw it and marveled at the design, the cut, and all in all everything about it. Uraraka complimented on how cool it looked but stopped from going further when she saw Suri's expression. Tsu made the blunt remark that it looked cute but nothing more. Jiro and Yayaorozu were the ones to look at Suri first, the costume second.
"Is that not what you had requested in your form?"
Suri looked up to reply to the tall ponytailed girl but quickly averted her stare back to her costume instead of the girl standing there completely topless and curious. Her eyes flicked to Jiro whose face was flushed and trying her best to hide that she'd been looking a little longer at the taller and curvier girl than she had meant to.
"Are the colors wrong?" Jiro, to her credit, tried to feign innocence and continue the conversation. "I dig them to be honest."
Jiro's costume, from what Suri could see, was all blacks, and a shirt nearly the same dark violet as her hair. It sort of reminded her of Present Mic's hero costume in a way. Maybe she was a fan of him too? Looking from Jiro's color scheme to what Suri held in front of her; yeah, she would like the black base and one of the two accent colors that nearly matched the color of purple she had.
"It is… but it isn't…"
"Is it the cut in the back? Seems kind of low if you ask me," Tsu replied, putting a finger to her lips as she looked over the back of the outfit.
"Yes, it seems kind of risque."
The girls all turned to Yayaorozu as she made the comment and gave her a once over in her red leotard with a massive plunge down the front of her torso and ended just below her navel.
Hello pot, meet my friend kettle.
"No, that's kind of necessary actually," Suri replied, shaking her head. "I kinda need the room for my tail."
All of them looked at Suri dead in the eyes and then all swung in their own little way to look at the exchange girl's rear. Tsu looked the longest and then looked back up to the taller girl and tilted her head in confusion. None of them voiced what they were thinking.
"No… The neckline is," she looked at the front cut that dove towards the middle of the singlet. It might actually have been as low of a cut as Yayaorozu's other than hers apparently had a light grey mesh inside of it. "A lot lower than I had requested and… I don't remember having a collar or this mesh."
She laid the costume over her left arm and let her right hand feel over the smooth material that was thicker and more durable than it first seemed. That was a plus. The collar was a deep purple ringlet that was basically only attached to the suit via the mesh material that led to a light grey shoulder piece that simply framed her trapezius muscles in front and covered most of her shoulder blades in back. She smiled, especially as her fingers danced over the bright yellow green and deep violet claw marks that were embossed on the chest and abdomen. Each side of the diving peek-a-boo was framed by two of the embossed designs that resembled a sort of old english i coming to sharp tapered points topped off with single claw shapes dotting them. Two singular and larger claw designs adorning the chest were the matching bright chartreuse and framed her abdomen with the tapered, swooping points helping to close off the belly button cut of the singlet. The deep cut itself was framed with a bright hem of yellow green and at the bottom the color shot downwards, essentially cutting the black base of the costume in half.
From there, the costume dove inwards like a unitard, creating a lovely V shape towards the center framed with a purple hem line. Then came the part she had taken the most liberties with as on either side of that V were cuts that would resemble a pair of short shorts with two colored hemlines; bright yellow green that disappeared into the purple V on top and light grey on bottom. Her eyes and fingers took notice of the bulk of the shorts area and thought about the vision she had of her beast. She had designed it long before her vision last night but… had she always known about the barely there leopard spots on its hips?
She shrugged and sighed, taking quick glances at the thigh highs and sleeves inside the case and then laid the singlet over top of it. She cursed her drawing skills and began stripping enough to get into her suit and then looked down, then to her locker to the medical gauze, then to her costume. Dammit. Her eyes glanced back around the room to the other girls and shrugged. At least she wouldn't be the only one topless underneath. Hooray for comradery.
When she turned around to grab her costume her chest pushed into something, the soft flesh melding into what felt like… a face. Suri jumped back with a surprised noise as her eyes tried hard to focus on the distorted shadow-like shape in front of her, who also screeched in surprise.
"Sorry," they said in unison and a sudden confusion filled Suri's face as she eyed a simple pair of floating gloves and a pair of boots.
"I-I was just looking at your hero custom," Tooru said nervously. "Honestly, it's gorgeous."
"Thank you," Suri replied and reached forward, holding up the singlet again for the invisible girl to look at again. "Yours is… wait… are you?"
Tooru groaned and waved the floating gloves in the air. It sort of felt like a display of frustration in the best and only way the girl could visibly show.
"Yeah. I guess even with my hair follicles, blood, saliva, or anything I could give them, they couldn't create anything that would work with my Quirk. I had a cool idea of a body suit that I could hit a button and it would turn invisible too. So," she sighed sadly, "this is the best I could come up with…"
Suri let out a small laugh as she slipped the singlet on, letting the costume hug and fit snug against her body and surprisingly gave her bust a decent amount of support and lift. As she started slipping her dark grey sleeves up her toned arms she gave a smirk to the invisible girl and winked at her.
"Glad I'm not the only nudist around here then."
The girls all laughed together, full and cheerful, and it seemed to help ease Tooru who, soon enough, was back to her bubbly, happy-go-lucky self. The girls made their way to the entrance of Battleground Beta where they met up with the boys and Suri flashed several of them cold, wicked eyes as they leered at them. The purple midget especially got a healthy glare and she let her beast roam behind her eyes as she looked at him, letting him get a glimpse of the monster she could be if he kept up his drooling and constant eye fucking.
They made their way down the dark tunnel entrance and at the end was a blinding light that was cast around the giant figure awaiting them at the end. From the darkness, the stern shadows on his face seemed more pronounced, making him almost less real. All of them caught sight of their teacher and gained a little more swagger and confidence in their step, they were in costume and dressed to impress the number one hero and their idol.
"They say the clothes make the pros, young ladies and gentlemen, and behold, you are the proof!" His deep baritone voice echoed into the entrance as he stood there proudly. "Take this to heart. From now on you are all heroes in training!"
All of them lined up on the other side of the entrance in an intersection of streets of the fake city. After they had filed out of the tunnel, Suri found that everyone had begun lining up in front of All Might and somehow Suri ended up on the far right with Jiro and Kirishima. The red head and the American girl looked at each other and gave the other wide fang filled grins before Suri put a fist up and hit hers against Kirishima's own fist.
What was there to say; badass recognizes badass.
"This is getting me all revved up. You all look so cool! Now," he beamed boisterously, "shall we get started ya bunch of newbies?"
All Might led them down the street towards a row of office buildings of various shapes, height, and color before having them stop in front of one. Looking at some of the others in her class, she could tell some of them had been here before. So a couple of them had been in B for the entrance exams huh?
"Now that you're ready, it's time for combat training!"
"Sir," Suri recognized the voice of Iida but turned to stare in wonder at the quality and production of his full bodied armor. "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean we'll be conducting urban battles again?"
"Not quite," All Might answered and threw up two fingers. "I'm going to be moving you two steps ahead. Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside but statistically speaking most run-ins with the most dastardly of villains takes place indoors. Think about it, backdoor deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs. Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows."
Villains weren't the only ones either. Heroes, villains, wereanimals, vampires, all of them had a home in the shadows and lived behind a wall of lies and secrecy. Wereanimals especially enjoyed riding the lie that lycanthropy was just another Quirk like everything else. Vampire society was able to not completely stay secret thanks to contributing most of their metaphysical abilities to being Quirks reliant on some form of blood for activation. Which, blood activated Quirks weren't unheard of. In fact, if you had a blood related Quirk you'd go to a local master for help with it and you'd essentially learn how to control your Quirk with the help of a vampire. The societies knew about each other to some extent and in All Might's case he was an honorary member to at least a dozen wereanimal groups thanks to his closeness with Alpha.
"For this exercise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight two-on-two indoor battles."
"Isn't this a bit advanced?" Tsu asked.
"The best training is what you get on the battlefield! But remember, you can't just punch a robot this time, you're dealing with actual people now."
"So it's a baptism by fire," Suri spoke up, crossing her arms under her chest.
"Sir, will you be deciding who wins?"
"How much can we hurt the other team?"
"Does the losing team have to worry about being expelled?"
"Will you be splitting us up based on chance or comparative skill?"
"Isn't my cape tres chic?"
All Might waved everyone off and ignored them. Did he really just pull out a script? Suri mentally facepalmed at the sight and sighed at the number one hero. World's greatest hero who did hours on end more than anyone else with media, interviews, and fans, and he couldn't figure out how to just roll with a bunch of kids hanging on his every word? And he called them newbies. Suri half followed what his explanation of what the exercise was going to be and half thought about how much more natural of a teacher he would be if he didn't try to put up the constant facade to save face. Honestly, the laid back and sometimes goofy Toshinori Yagi that Suri knew and had grown up around would have just as much respect, if not more, as a teacher.
Suri perked up as she saw All Might pull out a large yellow box from behind him. On the front of it in big bold black letters it read LOTS.
"Teams are going to be by chance," she thought out loud to herself and started looking around at her classmates. Mentally she noted the ones she knew, the ones she had seen use their Quirks, and ones she wanted nothing to do with. She watched as All Might placed a series of balls, one with each of their names on it, shook the box for a few moments and then dove his hand in taking each out two at a time.
Team F. Her and Koji Koda.
He was the one that sat in front of her right? Suri turned and scanned the small crowd looking everyone over.
"Kodakodakodakodakodakodakodako-AH!" she mumbled, then exclaimed as she found her target. She was about to walk to the tall, muscle bound boy with stone-like features.
"The first match will be these guys! Team A and Team D!" All Might boomed and everyone instantly turned their attention to the first four contestants. "The rest of you, come with me so we can watch the battles."
Suri waited enough so that Koda essentially came to her and she fell in step next to him. Suri walked a little forward and turned back towards him, walking backwards so she could meet his gaze. As soon as their eyes met, the much taller boy instantly turned his head and shook like a leaf in the wind. Shy? Yup. Really really shy. She tried introducing herself, greeting him, tried striking up a conversation and got nothing but shakes and small whimpers out of him. She sighed heavily and turned back, looking up at all of the monitors that showed the indoor progress of both teams.
A first spark of excitement rose in Suri on the first attack as she watched Bakugou leap outward in a surprise attack on Midoriya and Uraraka. Her and her beast focused on Midoriya for the entire match because he'd piqued their interest the most. Hadn't he always, up to this point anyway? Bakugou on the other hand… She came to a realization about the explosion user; he reminded her of a lot of the men in the pack back home. He was strong. He knew it. Good looking. He knew that as well. He was as powerful as anyone else in their impromptu pack, well aware of it, and in turn wanted to assert his absolute superiority and dominance.
Men like him wanted to be wolf king just to prove he was better than any other candidate. He'd initiate a challenge of power, take the throne, and then wonder why his pack was unruly and end up getting them all killed or taken over. Lone wolf shit doesn't work in wereanimal groups. The pack's your family, your power base, you work your shit out as a team and you don't…
Run away…
Shit, who was she to lecture?
She turned her attention to Uraraka, partially admiring the girl's costume and how the brunette looked in it, mostly because she was a friend. Sort of? Her admiration lasted as she watched her creeping into the room that held the fake nuke and was about to praise her stalking ability until… she broke down laughing. No one could hear what was being said between the students in the training exercise but whatever Iida did, it had been hilarious.
"Girl, what are you doing?" she cringed, watching the gravity girl willingly come out from her hiding spot. Soon though, after some sort of explosion, she had her first curled up with a grin on her face as she watched the shorter girl leap into the air and float towards the nuke over Iida's head. Her cheering died almost instantly as she grumbled watching Uraraka tumble to the ground, ending with her ass up and looking defeated.
Though, that was a nice pose from her.
The hell, Suri? Keep it together.
She mentally growled at herself and shook several thoughts out of her head. She thought she had better control of her hormones and urges than this. What changed? Why was she acting like this, it wasn't like her. Not really anyway.
So what changed?
Her beast rolled behind her eyes, stretching and lounging about lazily on its giant rock and from behind her human eyes it looked at her. A small grin curled on its lips.
"Yes, Suri. What has changed~"
"For one, you can talk and I can actively see you now," Suri replied inside her head.
"I had been nothing more than a shadow to you," the beast purred. "An acquaintance. Hired muscle whenever you wanted to kick someone's ass and show you weren't just some bitch, wolves lesser than yourself could fuck."
"And yet," she sighed and rolled her eyes. "We still fucked Robby."
The beast growled at her and shook its head. Yeah, that had not been a good choice for a mate during one of her early Lupanars.
"Poor decision on my part," the giant wolf leopard replied with a grumble. "How was I to know he was going to be bad?"
"Your part? I chose him."
Didn't she?
"No," the beast sighed. "I - what's the phrase - took your body for a joyride?"
"You what?"
"Also, I should admit, the costume design was my doing."
…
"How?" Suri was absolutely puzzled and slightly mortified. Was her control that bad?
"We share a body and we share a mind. We feed off of each other," she replied matter of factly. "You just seem to have yet to figure out how I must be fed. Think of it as a fair warning."
"So," Suri paused to frame the next question very carefully. "You're why I seem to be… a bit… needy… lately?"
"He's running away!" Suri heard Mina exclaim suddenly.
"It's not very manly, but he's got no choice. He's outgunned. Unless he's got some kind of plan… I guess it's possible," Kirishima added.
Suri's attention flicked back up to the screen and saw Deku in bad shape but staring down a wild eyed Bakugou. He'd run away to put some space between the two of them as the greenette decided that this was his last stand. They were going to rush each other.
"Sir! They're gonna kill each other!"
Kirishima's voice was panicked. Everyone was begging All Might to stop the match. Then they all watched as the two boys collided and one entire side of the building became ruins as a massive rush of power raced upwards. Suri's eyes, her beast's eyes, watched that display of power that nearly destroyed an entire building and a pleased purr rolled through her body. A wide fang filled grin crossed her lips and a thought crossed her mind; she wanted to fight him.
As that thought crossed her mind she heard All Might declare Midoriya and Uraraka as the winners, though looking up at the screens, you'd say the opposite. They were both on the ground, Midorya completely broken and covered in deep blackish blue bruising, Uraraka was on the verge of throwing up. Shit, this was brutal.
Suri watched the next few matches, listened to the reviews, and she honestly could marvel at some of her classmates. She was impressed with them. Far more than she had been impressed with some of the other wereanimals she knew, especially the ones her age, and far more impressed than Quirk powered kids her age back home. She studied each of her classmates one by one as they went into the buildings where they performed the exercise. Okay, maybe there was a reason her beast was greatly interested.
"... Young Kuroyashi and Young Koda will be the villains!"
The mention of her name drew her out of her dazed and uber focused state and her eyes stared at the screens. It was their turn. And their opponents were Mina and Aoyoma. Suri nodded and then looked to Mina who glanced back at her. The two friends met eyes, grinned at each other, and the two of them mentally declared each other rivals for the exercise. Soon the four of them were being led out by All Might to the building across the street from the one Midoriya had destroyed with one punch.
"All right, Kuroyashi, Koda go ahead and head inside. You can come up with any strategy that you see fit," All Might instructed. "As long as you protect the fake nuclear weapon or capture the hero team. You'll need to embrace what it means to be a villain. Become dastardly! You'll have five minutes before the hero team is sent in. Good luck!"
"See you on the other side," Suri chuckled, holding up a fist as her and Koda passed Mina, the pinkette reaching forward and crashing her fist against the other.
"Good luck!"
The two traveled inside the empty building, roaming the hallways and stairways in silence until they came across a large empty room. At the center was the giant bomb standing tall and looking ominous as they came up to it and tapped on the empty metal shell. It echoed throughout itself with that empty aluminum drum sort of sound. Suri looked over the nuke and then looked to her right and watched the tall, quiet boy next to her running his hand over the nuclear weapon.
"So we've got about four minutes or less before they come in. We're gonna need to know each other's Quirks so we can strategize. So," Suri smiled and winked innocently at Koda.. "I show you mine, you show me yours?"
He squeaked in surprise and held up his hands in a defensive position and shook his head quickly. He was blushing, and was avoiding talking at all costs it seemed and then he started waving his arms and fingers and then Suri suddenly caught on. She tried her best to make her sign and movements out of memory and signed to her partner.
"Deaf?" she signed.
"No. Don't like to talk," he signed back. "Sorry."
So he was really really really shy.
"That's fine," she replied. "My name is Suri Kuroyashi, nice to officially meet you."
"I'm Koji Koda," even in sign language, his voice came through shy and shaky. "Nice to meet you too."
"My Quirk is called Inner Beast," Suri signed. "Basically, I can become a wild animal."
"Oh! Mine is Ani Voice," he seemed a little excited. "I can use my voice and my animal friends will help me!"
Oh. That's interesting.
"All animals?"
"Yes. They have to be within listening range and it doesn't work on people with animal-like mutations or Quirks."
Suri had a thought then.
"Can you tell what kind of animals are around so you can talk to them?"
He shook his head then. Then Suri had a thought.
"I might be able to. Hold on a second."
She then closed her eyes and sought out the power inside her, called it to the surface and breathed out to let that electric current of power dance through her entire body, against the surface of her skin and fill the room. Her beast, after watching all of the fighting, all of the excitement, was more than willing to come out and play and let the shared power come out in force. Her ears elongated to points that came back towards the back of her skull, her nails sharpened and extended out from her human ones. Lastly, at the small of her back, her tail emerged, taking merely a second or two for the long half leopard, half wolf tail to appear and begin swaying casually. When her eyes opened they had bled to black, no longer human, and her mask had its desired effect, a sea of midnight darkness with only two piercing, glowing orbs of yellow green fire dancing in them.
Koda took a step back nervously as he saw her. Saw the change. Oh yeah, her classmates had never seen that before, had they?
Oops.
She looked up to him and gave the silent giant a warm, comforting smile that didn't quite comfort as much as she wanted it to. Yes, she normally had fangs, it was no different than Kirishima's shark teeth, but in this form, her fangs had grown a little. Koda was still nervous even though she meant well. Trying not to focus on scaring her partner anymore than she had, she crouched down, nearly going to all fours as she let her nose flare and begin taking in as much or the surrounding scents as she could. She tapped into her beast's ability and let her nose take in even more. She could smell the fresh scent of concrete, steel, and glass; that was the building they were in. Koda next to her smelled of Earth and fur; a home kind of scent to her and the animal inside. A scent of cherries and tang of citrus; that was Mina outside and next to that was Aoyoma who's scent was muffled in what seemed like gallons of cologne. French cologne of course. And then inside all of that she found several scents. All of them small, scurrying throughout the fake city, throughout the building they were in and just outside.
"I can smell birds, mice, and spiders," Suri turned up to Koda and signed.
He shook his head furiously at the last word and she heard a muffled scream behind his sharp rock-like jaw. She raised an eyebrow at him curiously.
"Arachnophobia?"
He nodded rapidly.
"Don't like bugs," he added.
Honestly, it didn't strike her as weird. Some people liked bugs, 99% of everyone else didn't. Hell, even she didn't like spiders, especially the more dangerous ones. She knew someone who had been bitten by a brown recluse and the result scared the living fuck out of her. Nope, fuck brown recluse and hobo spiders.
"So mice and birds," she signed and then thought for a moment. "Can the animals communicate to each other or just to you? Like a chain or direct relay?"
"I'm… not sure. I think it's direct," he answered. "Never tried something like this."
"Give it a shot. Who knows," she shrugged. "You could be the greatest tracking surveillance system ever."
They shared a smile together. He then looked around and went towards one of the completely windowed walls of the room they were in and looked around. He spoke at a normal volume, something that wouldn't normally be heard outside of the room. At least, not human ears.
"Friends," his voice was so soft. So sweet, innocent, and small. "Follow our classmates so we can know where they are. Protect this room if you can."
Suri questioned whether it worked for a second when she saw a few shadows of birds fly across the windows and her ears could now hear more clicks of tiny claws against the floor throughout the building. That last sentence however, when he said the word 'protect' even in the small child-like tone her beast purred and a shiver ran through her entire body. Suddenly, Koda was a lot more interesting. He had said protect, and that's what she would abso-fucking-lutely do.
Wait. Was that what she thought?
Something about him made her beast rise and take notice of him. Physically he was imposing with a tall almost pro wrestler kind of body with arms so well defined with muscle that she knew he could easily bench near or over two hundred pounds. If he wanted to he could crush you but in a loveable bear hug sort of way. That's what confused the beast; a good sized build and physique should have hormones raging but his soft demeanor and voice screamed cub. Cubs needed protection. She was in maternal mode. A mode she didn't even think she had in her. And now this room became her den with a six foot plus tall puppy inside, their sanctuary, and absolutely NO ONE fucks with her den!
"You said all animals right," she spoke, turning back towards Koda next to the windows.
"Yeah," he signed, his dark eyes looking at her curiously. "Why?"
"Just curious."
Suri watched his head tilt like he was trying to hear something no one else could. He then looked back to Suri trying to stifle a laugh.
"Ashido and Aoyama are inside. Aoyoma is crying because Ashido accidentally burned his cape."
Suri snorted. She actually snorted. She laughed heartily for a few moments and then grinned at Koda.
"Let's come up with a plan. I think Mina's the bigger threat. She's pretty athletic and she's got a strong Quirk. I want to try and take her one on one if that's okay."
Suri looked throughout the room, the bomb, and then back to Koda. He had nodded in agreement about her taking on Mina but looked nervous at what that meant for him. She gave him a warm smile and walked up to him with her hands on her hips. She had to look up to him to meet his gaze and he nervously began fidgeting, rolling his fingers together in front of his chest.
"Koda, you don't have to pummel him. All you've gotta do is just keep him away from this hunk of junk," she knocked on the fake bomb. "We've got this."
The gentle giant of a boy smiled and nodded and raised his fists and humphed a declaration to Suri. Suri simply grinned and spun on the balls of her heels to start towards the door. She opened the door, looked back with a fang filled grin and saw a Koda with a little bit of confidence in his eyes.
"If you need help, just let me know and I'll come running."
She took off down the hall and down the stairwell to the south of the room, planting a hand on the rail and vaulting herself over it. She let herself fall two floors before grabbing the railing for the first floor entry and pulled herself up. Suri then pushed against the door, doing her best to let it quietly click and then open as she peeked her head out.
Her ears twitched and she fought back a laugh. She could hear sparkle boy himself still yelling about his cape, sometimes in French, and driving Mina crazy. Her ears twitched, pinpointing her targets and telling her body where to take her. The monster girl bound down the hall to her right, slid around the second left and then it was full steam ahead towards the pinkette and blonde.
She leapt forward and curled herself up, readying to spring herself forward. She drove her feet into Aoyama's shoulders, slamming him down, face first into the floor and then used the back of his head as a vaulting platform to throw herself into Mina. Her legs wrapped around the girl's shoulders and rode her down until she, too, was face first into the floor. Suri rolled once the two of them were on the ground and then quickly rotated herself so that she was on all fours staring the two of them down.
"Let's go, Pinky," she growled with a sadistic grin. "Gimme all you got!"
Mina shook her head and looked up to her friend as she crawled onto her hands and knees. She took one look at the beast girl and let an excited smile curl onto her lips.
"Girl, you asked for it!"
"Mon cheri," Aoyama groaned as he got to his knees. "Let's-"
"Go find the bomb," Mina interjected and looked back to her partner. "I've got Kuroyashi!"
He was about to say something else when Mina turned back again. His mouth closed and he nodded to her before turning and running to the end of the hall where Suri had ambushed them. The beast girl never took her eyes off of her friend as they both got to their feet and put fists up, ready to fight.
"A little cocky thinking you can go one on one aren't you?" Mina questioned.
"Maybe a little." Suri answered, shrugging as she smirked. "You seemed like more fun to play with."
Before Mina could answer back, Suri lunged forward, running along the wall to her right and leaping off of it with a right arm clothesline. Before her forearm connected, the pinkette dropped to the floor and slid forward to dodge it using liquid secreted from her feet. There was a soft sizzling sound wherever the liquid touched and gave off a faint burning smell.
"You shouldn't underestimate us!" Mina exclaimed with a slight annoyance to her voice. She let two small nearly clear balls of liquid swell into her palms and then threw them, splashing them against the ground near Suri's feet. It forced the girl backwards a couple steps and she wondered just how much it would hurt to get hit by Mina's acid.
"Why do you think I'm bringing the fight to you," Suri called back, rushing forward again. She took long strides to avoid the liquid until she was directly in front of her opponent. She drove her right shoulder into Mina's sternum and wound up to give her a back sided left elbow.
The elbow never connected. Mina, instead, sidestepped Suri and forced her to stumble forward. As soon as the beast girl had somewhat stable footing, she had to roll herself out of the way of two balls of acid flying towards her. And once she was upright from the attack all she saw was the skin tight leopard print suit running away.
"Koda," she held a finger to her earpiece to open the communication line. "Aoyama's on his way to you. So is Mina but I'm going to cut her off before she gets to you."
Suri ran the opposite way to the north end stairwells. She could hear sounds of protest and practically could visualize the gentle giant flailing.
"Calm down, big guy. You'll do fine," she tried to sound as sweet and encouraging as she possibly could. Then she came to the stairwell and at the edge of the building and a thought occurred to her. "Do your bird friends have a way in?"
Silence. Frantic noises. That would be a no.
She lined herself up at the center of one of the windows, let her otherworldly energy build up and then kicked forward. The glass shattered and exploded from its frame and left a wide open entry into that floor. Her sights then turned to the stairwell and soon a door came off its hinges and was scraping against the floor after she threw it.
"They do now!"
Then she heard it, a faint childlike voice that swept down her spine and made her beast roar inside of her. He called. His voice told her and the other animals to rally, to protect their den from Ashido and Aoyama. Her thoughts roared with a yes to the call and she let out an inhuman growl as she raced up the stairwell and barrelled through the door to their base's floor, busting it off of two of the three hinges.
She heard something else behind her. Wings. Lots of them. A chorus of chirps and cawing. She knew she had an army at her back and raced forward, blowing past Aoyama - the birds could slow him down - and barreled around the corner straight into Mina. With her shoulder dropped, she hit the pinkette straight in the midsection with an American football style tackle.
Mina, to her credit, got up as fast as she could and charged forward on streams of slick fluid. Suri had seen her use her acid as a means of transport during the assessment test yesterday, up close and in combat, it was far more impressive. When she stopped admiring her opponent she rolled herself backwards to avoid a barrage of pink fists, dodging most, and parrying some until she took a left roundhouse kick to the gut.
Suri growled loudly as she was sent stumbling backwards and a sharp pain radiated in her stomach. When she looked down, the mesh material over her navel was melted away. The material of her singlet was singed and her dark copper skin had turned a rust color. The impact still burned and it made her look at her friend with a fanged grin.
"Oh my God, I'm so-"
"Don't!" Suri quickly interrupted. "I said bring it and girl, I meant it!"
"So you want me to turn up the heat?" Ashido asked pointedly. She held her palms in open view and the liquid secreted began to sizzle.
"Abso-fucking-lutely!"
Suri dropped to all fours and began charging forward again. She dodged the first three balls of acid but took the fourth in the right shoulder. The muscles tensed and began to burn instantly as the skin turned into a mix of rust and an egg white where it began to blister. She just gritted her teeth and growled through the pain.
She could take being clawed up, beaten up, and torn up, but the burning? The burning was a type of pain she wasn't accustomed to. The bitter soreness radiated much like being clawed up, but the burning sunk deeper than the wound itself and soon her entire arm ached at any and every sort of movement. She chewed on her bottom lip and forced herself to move through the pain but the moment of hesitation from the pain got her caught. A new pain surged through her jaw as a pink fist met her there and rocked her head backwards and sent her reeling. Her mouth filled with a taste of crimson iron and she realized she had bit through the inside of her lip. Point for Mina.
Suri spit blood and wiped her mouth with the back of her arm and then turned back to look at a confident Mina. The confidence continued to radiate through her as she reached behind her and pulled out the capture tape that had been secured behind her back and moved it to under her left arm sleeve. She and Mina charged each other again and this time Suri ran on the wall once again to dodge a few more acid balls. Suri leapt forward, going for the clothesline she had tried before and bet on the dodge once again. As she landed, she wound up and went for a backside right elbow and hit the other girl square in the spine.
The beast girl lunged forward again with a right fist drawn to strike and decided for a feint attack, letting her fist graze through the soft mess of Mina's pink curls. As she lurched forward she felt arms wrap around her left arm and swing. With a fluid motion the pinkette flung Suri against the wall, smashing her up against the concrete, scraping her cheek and chin against the rough surface. She felt the girl grab both of her wrists and pin them behind her back then felt as Mina put her weight against Suri and pressed the line of her body into the beast girl's back. A shiver ran down Suri's spine as she felt Mina's labored breathing against the back of her neck and soft flesh melding into her shoulder blades.
"Damn," Suri panted and let out a small laugh. "Take a girl out first, why don't you?"
"W-What?" Mina blinked and stuttered, hesitating with the capture tape she'd begun to wrap around Suri's wrists.
With that moment of hesitation Suri dropped to the floor, pulling Mina down and throwing off her balance. The acid user soon found herself on the ground on her back after Suri swept her legs out from under her. She then felt a weight sit onto her chest and her arms pinned to the ground above her head and looked up to see Suri hovering over her. The two girls were panting and heaved together as they both tried to catch their breath, both of them covered with a sheen of sweat as their eyes locked to one another.
"No hard feelings right?" Suri asked as she tied Mina's wrists with the pinkette's own capture tape, subduing her completely.
"Hell no," Mina smiled with cheer. "That was way too much fun!"
Suri was about to say something when the two of them heard a loud, shrieking scream from the villain stronghold. Something was screamed in French again and then something about glitter and a cape. And then a few moments later All Might's voice boomed over the intercom.
"THE VILLAIN TEAM WINS!"
"The fuck just happened?" Suri asked quietly and rose up off of Mina before reaching down and helping her friend up off the ground. The two walked the short distance from their fight to the large room that held the fake bomb. Once inside they couldn't help but start to laugh hysterically as they saw Koda crouched over, trying to console Aoyama as he mourned the shredded cape that was laid on the ground. The blonde laser user was sobbing and the capture tape wasn't even around his wrists but he was subdued, crying over the sparkling piece of fabric like it was a death in the family.
"Koda!" Suri exclaimed with glee, showing him a wide toothy grin. She ran to him, gave him an ecstatic, bruising high five and then hugged the gentle giant. "We fucking did it!"
Koda made frantic noises and his face was flushed. When Suri thought about it she backed off and laughed nervously. That… had probably been his first hug from a girl. The thought froze as she ran her hand through her hair with what had been an embarrassed chuckle but was choked short as she felt something. Her hand came back from her head and she looked into her palm that held a chunk of thick black curls. She looked up, and with wide shocked eyes, looked to Mina who had a nervous - very nervous - smile.
"No hard feelings right," she asked with a small, cautious tone.
Mother fuck…