Suri is recovering from the full moon. She and Shiozaki have a bonding moment. And Suri comes face to face with an enemy she's not prepared for.
"And you two," Mr Aizawa grunted. "You two barely passed by the skin of your teeth so you better not be slacking off either."
"W-We did?" Ochako said with a frightened tone.
Suri blinked rapidly, her body swaying from a flash of exhaustion before she finally straightened up and began looking around. Her eyes darted every which way to take in her surroundings and she had to hide the breath that hitched in her throat as she found herself in the middle of the training field with the remedial group and Aizawa.
"Girl, you okay?" Mina whispered, leaning into Suri to try and ease the wobbliness in her girlfriend's legs.
"Y-Yeah. I'm gucci. W-Where… we're training already?" Suri whispered back.
"Yeah," Mina whisper screamed back, unable to hide the shock and worry in her voice. "You've been with… us. Wait… so it hasn't been you this whole time?"
Suri looked at Mina and then thought about her words. The last thing Suri remembered was being in the forest clearing under the full moon. She remembered trying to coach Koda, she remembered handing her clothes to Mina and then meditating in the clearing naked with Koda. She remembered right up until she collapsed from pain. Right up until she relinquished control over to Atiena.
"I… just woke up," Suri half chuckled and sighed as she looked around at her classmates again. "I'll get Atiena's memories soon but until then everything's blank."
"Oh. So we've been with Atiena this whole time?" Mina asked again, more out of curiosity than anything judging from the look in her eyes,
"By me and Atiena's guess, she can control my human body for around two hours after she gets back from the full moon. Normally it's so that she can store the remainder of the night's hunt and do meal prep with it."
"Babe… it's been, like, almost five," Mina whispered cautiously.
"Wait… really?" Suri flashed a pair of shocked eyes at the pinkette.
"Yeah, you came back to the girl's cabin around five, we were all awake by six and we've been with Aizawa since six thirty. You sat through two and a half hours of remedial lessons with us."
"Oh. So," Suri gave Mina a half hearted smile, trying to calm the girl's rising shock."We've upped her control to five or six hours now?"
"Suri, th-"
"Ashido, Kuroyashi," Mr. Aizawa stared blankly, standing in front of them. They had just now noticed him there and fear coursed through the two of them as they slowly turned to look up at him. "You're with Tiger. While your bodies recover from the strain of yesterday, you'll work on strength training today. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," the two of them responded before turning towards where Tiger was with several other students, including Izuku and Tooru. That little tidbit of information, that they'd be training with their beaus today let a sense of ease fill them.
That ease lasted right up until they were groaning and panting from the workout that Tiger put his entire bootcamp through. Suri had managed to keep pace with Izuku, Shishida, Tokage, and Kirishima but only barely. She was always drained the morning after a full moon which is why it had never been uncommon for her to sleep ten to twelve hours. Her record was sixteen. Which was making it all the worse knowing that she had barely an hour's worth of sleep to run on.
It damn sure wasn't enough sleep to make it through Tiger's so called bootcamp. Not in peak form anyway which had been apparent from Suri's lack of being able to hit her normal numbers. He had them doing everything from pull ups and crunches to weights, dynamic and isometric stretching, even working with heavy bags. Suri was growling at herself for not being able to do her usual reps; like how she went from doing a hundred crunches in a minute and half to barely squeezing out forty. Fifty widefly chin ups dropped to struggling with twenty. Her usual benching two-eighty for twelve reps shrunk; without tapping into Atiena's strength at all floundered down to one-fifty and needed Izuku to spot the last three and help with getting the bar back up.
They had been doing push ups when Suri collapsed and let out a long, exhausted groan as she found it almost impossible to push herself back up. She hadn't even made it past twenty five yet. Worse over, she had been the first to tucker out and it took everything she had not to bury her face in the dirt and scream in frustration. Everyone else followed suit not long after.
"Okay, fine, I'll let you kids have a break," Tiger groaned disgruntledly. "But if you don't go Plus Ultra when I get back, I'm gonna beat you pipsqueaks into shape!"
"Yes, sir," they all groaned in response.
Once Tiger walked away, Mina and Tooru both crawled towards Suri and Izuku, flopping onto their backs beside them. The four became their own little circle once again and their spirits instantly seemed to lift. They began talking about what to do once they got back to civilization, as it were, about dating and where they'd go. They were about to figure out details exactly when their attention got turned elsewhere.
"Man, I dunno how you guys do it," Kirishima chuckled as he plopped himself onto his butt near the small group.
Suri managed to lift her head to see their guests and gave Kiri and Shiozaki a small, exhausted wave before her head flopped back down. Izuku sat up with a huff as he forced himself up to be able to look at their company, as did Mina. Apparently, Tooru was just as exhausted as Suri or she was lying so she could keep Suri company on the ground. The beast girl couldn't quite decide which but she enjoyed being able to look over and see the ghostly shape of her girlfriend lying there beside her.
"What do you mean, Kirishima," Izuku asked curiously. A small smile and a light blush formed on his cheeks as he watched an exhausted Shiozaki lay herself against the redhead, her head lying on his shoulder.
"This," Kirishima motioned at the four of them with a laugh and a shark toothed grin. "It took a lot of getting used to seeing the three of them and now you're with them?"
"I-I'm not!" Izuku clammered waving his hands defensively towards his friend before his mind settled and thought about everything. He thought about what the four of them had been talking about. He thought of going on a date with Suri again and the morning they had had together before leaving for camp. He thought about holding Mina again like he had at the movie theater, the feel of her head resting in his shoulder. And he thought about Tooru, the way he held her that day at the beach, their date, their first kiss. He couldn't help but grin as he looked from one to the other, his eyes resting on them as he continued. "N-Not officially anyway."
"Oh I think it's plenty official," Mina snickered and gave the greenette a smirk as laid herself into him. She mimicked Shiozaki, laying her head on his shoulder and his instincts had him curling his arm around her back. She nuzzled her cheek against the crook of his neck like she was going to take a nap when her eyes settled on her best friend and the vine-haired girl of 1-B with a sly smirk. "Oh! And, um, when did you two make it official."
The comment made Shiozaki flush and squeal as she tried to quickly sit up from her position and put some distance between her and Kirishima.
"I-I would do nothing so sinfu-" Shiozaki's head yanked to the side harshly as she tried to get away. Apparently her vines had a mind of their own because they had been securely tangled to Kirishima's arm. The pull of her hair had also made her yelp. Sure it had been painful but Suri could have sworn she heard something else in there that said it wasn't completely unpleasant.
Then Suri had a bad, cringeworthy joke come to her and she couldn't help but blurt it out.
"Honey, if we don't sin, doesn't that mean your boy died for nothin?" Suri forced herself to sit up with a grin, which only widened as she saw Shiozaki's expression turn from embarrassment to horror at the joke.
"K-Kuroyashi!"
Kirishima broke down then, having just got the reference and then watching the greenette's reaction. It was all too much for him and he began laughing hysterically. Suri joined in, snickering and chuckling at the pair's opposite reactions before Mina, Tooru, and finally Izuku joined in the laughter. Shiozaki, as stoic as she tried to be, couldn't help but break down that wall as well as she simply smiled and shook her head. Even she couldn't help but find the humor in all of it. And the infectious joy her man - her Eijiro - brought, made her smile.
"Okay okay, you may have a point there," she sighed happily and relented as she laid herself back into Kirishima's shoulder. "And if my memory serves from our conversation at the Sports Festival, I don't suppose you've lessened your sinning have you?"
"Nope," all three girls happily chimed in unison.
"I pray you don't face damnation for your debauchery then," she sighed and closed her eyes and nuzzled herself into the strong, muscular warmth she was laying on.
"You too, sister. Amen," Suri chuckled and gave the religious girl a smirk. "But hey, I've known I'll be going to hell anyway for a long time. Might as well have fun before I go, right?"
This made Shiozaki and Kirishima both furrow their brows, Kiri in confusion over the comment and Shiozaki in a sense of dread. Kirishima wasn't religious, not in the Christian sense, so the comment went over his head no matter how he tried to comprehend it. Shiozaki on the other hand was sorrowful that anyone would reserve themselves to an eternity of fire, brimstone, and eternal damnation of their soul if only they just pray for the lord's forgiveness.
"W-Why do you say that? Surely I haven't convinced you of that fate in our few conversations have I?" Shiozaki said, conveying her worry to Suri.
It made the beast girl smile.
"Nah! Not you, hun. You have your convictions and your beliefs, you can be a little holier-than-thou but, but you're not scornful in your preaching. Not a zealot sort of scornfulness anyway," Suri shrugged. Shiozaki seemed to think on that. "I've grown up around people who try to throw bible verses at you everyday to try and... dissuade and shame me for my sexuality. Lots have people have tried to make me hate myself just because I'm pansexual and that I'm sexually active before marriage. But hell, at least you haven't made a bigoted statement about the color of my skin trying to mask it as religious preaching."
"The color…" Shiozaki seemed puzzled at first and then she looked Suri over again. She seemed confused by it and voiced it so. "I… I don't… I haven't made any disparaging remarks about your race and lineage, have I? If so I-"
"And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam; they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain were black, and not a place among them," Suri recited from memory with a sarcastic smile. Shiozaki still looked confused, not recognizing the scripture. "I've been quoted Moses 7:22 so many times I ended up memorizing it and even resented my appearance for a while. Great thing to teach impressionable kids in elementary school, right?"
"Ouch. People actually told you that as a little kid?" Kirishima looked sad and disgusted as his head wrapped around the implication of what Suri had said.
"Oh-ho-ho, that's not even the worst of it," Suri scoffed with a chuckle. The gesture made both Tooru and Izuku squeeze her hands affectionately, one hand of theirs in each of hers.
"You speak of the mark or curse of Cain, correct?" Shiozaki asked, thinking about the verse again. "I thought his only curse was that he would suffer to roam the Earth for all eternity without the release of being able to pass on? That everyone who saw him would know he was an outsider and would be offered no quarter because of a marking on his body. I believe that's why tattoos were forbidden in the Old Testament."
"Personally, I think you're right and that technically tattoos are totally fine and have been for a couple thousand years. Your dude, Jesus, died on the cross for all the sins that had happened, would happen, and closed the lid on the Law of Moses."
"Hence the New Testament," Shiozaki smiled with a nod.
Suri grinned. Look at her and Shiozaki go, just a couple of religious scholars.
"And yet," Suri sighed and looked down at Tooru who had had her head laid in Suri's lap the entire time since the beast girl had sat up. She moved her hand that had been held in the invisible girl's hand upwards and gently pushed an invisible lock of Tooru's hair back. Once she had moved the lock out of the way she caressed her thumb across Tooru's cheek and jawline.
"I will admit, I have had troubles in observing your relationship," Shiozaki sighed and watched Suri's movements with a careful smile. "But not for the reasons you might assume. How can I consider you a vile sinner for your same sex attractions when my best friend identifies herself in a similar light?"
That revelation made Suri's jaw slack open in awe and then a grin curled on her lips. Mina had a similar reaction and she couldn't help but giggle and look around the training grounds trying to decide which members of the 1-B girls flew the same banners as she did.
"My… reservations… are from what I may perceive as adulterous or very… non-traditional as it were. Which is why Eijiro and I were both curious as to how such an arrangement you have works and functions."
"Easy answer," Suri said, looking down at Tooru, still caressing her, and then looking up to meet both Izuku's and Mina's eyes.
"Communication," the three girls said in unison.
"That makes sense," Kirishima thought out loud. "Mina, you've loved gossip for as long as I've known you but you three don't just gossip; you literally just talk about everything and anything. And I've watched you, even when me and you have been texting about school, Suri and Tooru are always in the know. It's kinda cool that you're comfortable like that."
"I mean we still have a couple secrets," Tooru admitted with a giggle.
"Yeah, but nothing huge," Mina added, nuzzling her cheek against Izuku's shoulder, her eyes closing heavily like she was about ready to fall asleep again.
"Y-Yeah," Izuku chuckled hesitantly, everyone chalking it up to Mina's affections. "N-Nothing major… at all."
"So communication? Is that really all it takes," Shiozaki quirked an eyebrow and asked with a slightly puzzled expression.
"I mean I could tell you great sex," Suri grinned wide, knowing that would make at least two people fluster spectacularly. And it did. Because Izuku and Shiozaki went pale at first, their skin dropped a few shades of color before it instantly refilled straight to tomato red. They were deep blushes. Really deep. And Izuku almost broke when Kirishima looked at him and began grinning ear to ear with the assumption he had had in his head. Shiozaki looked absolutely shocked.
"B-B-But I-I! W-We!"
Mina snorted and laughed as she wrapped an arm around Izuku and squeezed him tight. She knew nothing had happened. Yet. But gods was she looking forward to it and she knew damn well she wasn't the first or last one to think those happy, steamy thoughts about the greenette.
"Really? Midoriya and you three have... already? Wow," Kirishima had missed the joke so he was giving Izuku an excited and sort of shocked expression. He was dumbfounded by the news but then a grin, a wide one showing off his sharp teeth. He reached forward and gave Izuku a happy slap on the knee. "Damn, bro! Look at you go!"
Suri snickered at Kirishima's reaction, Izuku's reaction to that, and once she snorted, the dam broke and she began laughing with a happy bellow. It was enough to let small droplets form in the corners of her eyes and threaten to fall. A good moment of bellowing later Suri caught herself and began controlling her breathing so she could speak and clarify that she had, in fact, not taken Izuku's innocence. Yet.
"No, no, Izu and I haven't made it that far. What about you girls? Anything I need to know?"
"Nopes! Not yet, anyway~" Tooru giggled and cood up towards the greenette.
"Nah," Mina snickered as she squeezed herself into the blushing boy. "Trust me, if that had happened yet, you'd've heard about it. Then again…"
Suri watched Mina with a grin and then let her eyes trail to Izuku, watching him swallow hard and she couldn't take her eyes off of the smooth skin of his neck. She watched the big pulse there and watched the muscles in his throat work as he swallowed the nervous lump, tempting her to take a bite. Her eyes then flicked upwards to his lips and she felt herself go a little hazy as she watched him, involuntarily licking her lips and remembering the ghostly touch of those soft lips on hers.
"Gods, kissing him is just as good," Suri sighed wistfully, catching Izuku, Kirishima, and Shiozaki off guard. It made both Tooru and Mina look at Suri and then back to Izuku, his lips especially and they too both had the same involuntary reaction. Mina made sure to grin devilishly enough that her reaction could be counted for her and the invisible girl. She was fighting the urge to turn her head into his shoulder and lay a kiss on his neck when the subject was changed.
"I-I'm n-not that g-good, am I?"
"Kuroyashi," cleared her throat, changing the subject as quickly as possible, "if I may. I've heard you mention multiple gods several times now through us knowing each other. I also partially remember you saying something about being more spiritual than religious. Do you follow the spiritual teachings prevalent here in Japan or," Shiozaki let the thought hang, partially because she wasn't sure how to ask, partially waiting for the beast girl to take the lead.
"My family and community have a mix of everything. The inner beast community back in Salt Lake does have a couple very staunch christians, a few agnostics and non-denominals, several muslims, and so on. But, for the most part, nearly all of us identify as heathen or wiccan. I personally grew up with the Norse and Orisha pantheons so the easy answer is that I believe in hundreds of gods. It's kind of common for everyone to not necessarily pray to or worship the entire pantheon but let yourself become close to a small selection," Suri explained with a smile. She watched the intrigue float through everyone's faces, especially Shiozaki, who was far more animated than anyone else. "If we're talking about me, I'm spiritually tied to Angrboda as my primary goddess, but I also pray to Ori, Mani, and Mawu. Also, even though I don't use my dad's family name here, I'm strongly tied to Azunaihara, the patron saint of our clan."
"I don't believe I'm familiar with this Saint A-Azu… nai… hara," Shiozaki replied with interest.
"Nah, you wouldn't be," Suri giggled. "According to family legend, she had been an amazing warrior and leader of a clan that was nearly all women. A small fleet of norsemen landed on her shores and she challenged their king to a duel that said if she won they would turn around and go home, if he won they'd surrender themselves. She won. They were smitten with each other's abilities as warriors and her clan became one of the first groups of black vikings by way of trade and treaty. King Lucian also gave Queen Azunaihara his clan's secret ability to call beasts and our family has had that gift ever since."
"Dude, that's so manly!" Kirishima cheered.
"I see where you get your resilience from then, Kuroyashi," Shiozaki nodded with a smile that said she had found the small history lesson quite intriguing.
"Right? That sounds a lot like something you'd do, babe," Mina chuckled.
"Heh, maybe that's what they're waiting for," Tooru teased.
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, walking right into the invisible girl's trap,
"Suri's gotta kick your ass so she can take you to pound town."
"Tooru!"
Suri glared daggers at Mr. Aizawa. Ones that clearly said that if she had it her way she'd be kicking his ass and promptly stringing his unconscious body up with his scarf. One that clearly said that she was really really not happy with the actions over the past few minutes.
And why blame her?
They had finished cooking, eating, and cleaning up dinner, took a quick shower, and changed into some comfy clothes. They were in the forest, happily waiting for the fun that was supposed to be had. Everyone in class 1-A had gathered at the start point, ready to enter the forest in a Test of Courage. Frankly, Suri was very excited for it because the activity screamed haunted house and Suri loved haunted houses. She and Mina had been cheering, ready to get partnered up when they both got attacked by Mr. Aizawa's stupid capture scarf. Then they started getting dragged out along with Kaminari, Sero, and Kirishima.
Now they were sitting in the classroom where they had their remedial lessons.
Instead of strolling through the forest trying to get scared by 1-B with her friends, she was sitting in class. It was a very good reason to be pissed and show just how pissed she was in her eyes pointed directly at that scruffy - admittedly sort of attractive - bastard.
That glare soon shifted as her nose flared and she smelled something not far in the distance. It made her eyes go wide and her hands flexed on the edge of the table she and Mina had just sat down at.
It was smoke.
"Baby, you- ah!"
Just as she had smelled smoke everyone got a ping of static that filled their ears and heads. It was jarring, a little painful, and all sorts of disorientating but they had felt it at least once over the last two days. It was Mandalay's telepathy.
"Everyone!" she called out into everyone's heads.
"Mandalay? Her Quirk gives me the chills," Mina sighed, rubbing her arms.
"Right? Too bad it only works one way though," Kaminari commented.
"Everyone, shut up," Mr. Aizawa stated coldly and got his reward.
"Two villains attacked us. It's possible more are coming. Everyone, return to camp immediately. We're regrouping. Do not engage any of the enemies!"
"Vlad, look after them, I'm going to help get the other students!" Mr. Aizawa shouted and began running out the door.
"Love you, stay here and stay safe," Suri whispered towards Mina who met her with wide shocked eyes.
"N-No, wait!" she gasped back with a sound of horror in her voice.
"Wait up Mr. Aizawa! I'm coming too," Suri shouted and vaulted herself over the desk and sprinted through the door to catch up to her teacher.
"No, Kuroyashi, you need to stay with the others," he yelled back, rushing towards the doors. He hit them and stopped, looking out at the forest with wide eyes, seeing the blue glow of flames not far from them.
"They're my responsibility too! Plus I smell-"
"Looks like your concern has you distracted, Eraser," a man's voice came from beside Mr. Aizawa. He turned to look at the other man and saw a spark of blue fire in his palm.
Suri bolted faster, digging in to try and reach her teacher in time as a massive wall of fire poured from the man's hand. She skid on her heels to a stop and screamed in pain as flesh along the back of her arm sizzled and broiled with the heat. She had brought the arm up to shield herself from the flames and paid the price for it as her right forearm was seared, an injury that not even going beast mode would heal. She stumbled backwards from the wall of blue fire and slammed onto her butt, gritting her teeth in pain as she watched and prayed that Aizawa was okay.
She got her answer quickly as the villain; a man covered in patched up skin with shaggy black hair, striking blue eyes, and devil may care vibe to him, smirked as he looked up. His eyes said he was already bored of the entire encounter.
"Well, guess that's a pro for ya," he droned before raising his hand again towards Mr. Aizawa who had jumped up towards the roof of the building.
Suri grunted through the pain as she got to her feet and was going to charge the villain herself when she saw her teacher's capture scarf work like magic. It wrapped around him and pulled the fire user upwards to meet Eraser half way where it then twisted, rolling the villain to face the ground as the veteran pro hero rode him downward. The two met the ground with a loud smack as Mr. Aizawa pinned him down to the ground and held him tight.
"Kuroyashi, are you injured?" he asked as he addressed his student, not taking his eye off the villain below him.
"I'm fine," she replied coldly as she stared down at the man on the ground
She watched him eye her from the corner of his eye, first her expression and then down to where she cradled the burned right arm in her left. He shook his head and put all of his attention back on the villain where he began tightening his submission hold on the man.
"Your objective, numbers, and positions," he commanded the fire user. "Spill it!"
"Why should I?" the villain replied coyly, only to have his arm dislocated near instantly thanks to Mr. Aizawa.
"Let's think rationally here. Keep it up and it'll be your left arm next. If I get to your legs, it'll be a pain for the arresting officer."
Suri watched the exchange for that moment before she snapped out of her daze watching Eraser Head work. This was the second time she'd been able to see him in action against real villains and it was an exciting show. Before he could scold her any more she took off running again, barrelling into the forest.
The smoke was heavy, but she also scented something else, something sour. Sour usually meant poison in her experience. Shit, they had poison gas too? It made her growl and try to dig in more, trying to run faster. She had only the goal of finding the other members of 1-A, her pack, her family. Especially two of them. She had to make sure Tooru and Izuku were safe. Of course she felt a pang of guilt hit her as she thought of Mina and the way she had just left her girlfriend there. The look back into the classroom as she charged out the door was filled with a mixture of shock, anguish, and betrayal aimed all at Suri.
She'd address it later when she knew everyone was safe. She'd have to. And there was no doubt that she would make it up to Mina somehow.
"Kuryashi, where are you going?"
A familiar voice made Suri skid to a halt again and she turned to see Iida, Koda, Ojiro, and Mineta walking down the pathway towards the study hall. They were regrouping like Mandalay had ordered them,
"I'm going to help round everyone else up. Get back to the campus and take roll as everyone filters in," she called out.
"Miss Mandalay said-"
"Iida, I know what she said but I have to go, I have to make sure every one of our friends makes it home safe. I'd be a shitty ass class rep if I didn't, now go," she growled at the group, making sure they wouldn't disobey her. "Make sure everyone is safe!"
Before he could protest more, she took off again. She left them to keep going down the path, hoping they didn't do anything stupid. She was right, she would be a poor excuse for a class representative and a friend if she didn't do this. Her friends voted for her to be in this position, to be the Queen of 1-A and she needed to act like it. If any harm came to any of her friends and classmates, the perpetrators would have hell to pay.
She made it another two hundred yards before her nose flared at a familiar scent. It was a scent that she had, for the longest time, enjoyed and now, more recently, had fallen in love with. That strong scent of pine and fresh earth that made her feel warm, feel at home. She smiled instantly at the smell but her smile dropped nearly instantly as she smelled something she normally enjoyed. She enjoyed it because of the subsequent taste that followed. And now; she was angry. Her rage flared to the point that her eyes rolled to beast and she took on the first portion of her transformation because that rage had woken Atiena from her slumber. Now the rage was doubled because someone had done something unforgivable.
Someone had bled Izuku.
Their Izuku.
With a rage filled heart that was set on vengeance she turned towards that familiar scent and caught up to him. She raced towards her man, her Izuku, and met him just off the main path towards the campus. The sight made Suri and Atiena gasp in unison, doubling her voice with pain and anguish as Izuku came into view.
"I-Izuku! O-Oh- oh my gods," she came to him, ignoring anything he was trying to say as she quickly scanned him over. One of his arms was practically black from the amount of damage it had taken. His other arm wasn't much better and he had massive lacerations somewhere on his head because his forehead and one entire side of his face was a mask of crimson. "W-Who? Who did t-this to you!"
Tears began welling in the corners of her eyes.
She did not want to see him hurt.
Fuck!
She should have been there! She should have been there to protect Izuku. Her Izuku. And the guilt of not being there for him in Hosu flared up again. She had two strikes against her for not being able to save him. She- Shit! Her eyes had to refocus as she finally noticed Kota on Izuku's back. His eyes were puffy from crying but he didn't look like he was hurt. Thank the gods for that at least!
"Kota! Shit, kid, are you okay," Suri yelped as she moved to check on the younger boy.
"I-I'm okay. D-Deku," he paused, looking down at the greenette before finally muttering his last words. "Deku saved my life.
"Gods, what the fuck did the villain do to you?" Suri said, choking back the lump in her throat.
"I… I had to go all out on him. I knew I couldn't control it all but I had to or else he would have killed Kota. T-They're after students. He mentioned some of us being on a list, they want to capture some of us and-"
"The rest are on our... heh hehe... kill list~"
Suri froze as a pair of glowing orbs of fire illuminated the shadows directly behind Izuku and Kota. A bright flash of pink and silver blue fire, and a glint of fanged teeth hovered behind them, inches away from the young boy on Izuku's back. A second glint flashed in the dark and, in an act of desperation, Suri wrapped her arms around Izuku and Kota. She cradled her soon to be boyfriend's face into her chest as she tried hard to tap into that blinding speed Grandma Kuroyashi had. Izuku would be left staring at a shimmering after image of Suri standing in front of him while feeling the ghostly impression of her warm skin against his face and then left back into the cool summer air once more. He'd be staring at her again, now in the completely opposite direction he and Kota had been in.
A loud yelp of a scream escaped Suri as the press of four blades ripped across her back, splitting her skin open to blossom a splash of crimson. The villain had swiped her claws, tearing into Suri's back before quickly grabbing the beast girl in a chokehold, grinding a firm forearm into her throat. It made her gasp for air, her eyebrows twitching from the droning pain in her back only made more intense by the woman pressing claws into Suri's back again while restraining her. It was like being held up at knife point with the tip of the blade already sitting against your skin; except this time there were four at once.
Suri shivered in fear as she was held in place so easily and left at the mercy of whoever was holding her. She felt the woman push into her, her nose flaring and grinding into Suri's neck as she breathed in the beast girl's scent. She was scenting Suri like… like another lycanthrope. Suri's eyes went wide as, with that thought, the woman's power flared. The villain's metaphysical energy spread across the woman's skin like an inferno and shocked Suri everywhere her body touched the other woman with painful sparks of electricity. Suri's air was then stolen from her with that same energy as the sheer power of it all thickened the air into a sweltering hot, thick blanket of fog that began suffocating Suri. She was choking on the power.
"Oooo, you're a fast one~"
The woman spoke into Suri's ear with a song-song voice that held an edge of laughter or cackling to it. It was higher on the register and Suri had to guess the woman's age being similar to her own. Then that thought betrayed her as something else happened in that same thought, her voice dropped an octave, putting her age into her twenties as it now held a thick growl empty of that joy.
"Ah! Don't you move, or else I will gut her like a fish in front of you."
It had been directed at Izuku who, even though he was too scared to say a word, had taken a fraction of a step towards Suri. He had Kota, and he was badly injured, there was no way he should've been putting himself in this woman's sights. That thought led Suri to try and muster up whatever strength and courage she had in her as she focused her eyes on the greenette and tried to flush the panic from her eyes and replace it with a calm confidence.
"I-Izuku. Run. Take Kota and get out of here," she said in a strained voice from the pressure being placed on her neck. It only tightened as she spoke. "Find, EraserHead."
"S-Suri… I-I… I can't. I-"
"Aww, yeah, little boy, try and save yourself~ Oh! Or you could stay," she began cackling again in that higher, happy tone. "Yeah! Yeah! Hehehe, stay so we can both see what her insides look like! You'd like that. Right?~"
Suri panicked at that. She began shaking which vibrated the claws against her back into her skin and made her sense of pain spike wildly again. She went into flight or fight mode and reacted because she would not let Izuku see what this woman was promising. That promise that Suri was going to die and she'd make Izuku and Kota watch? That was not going to happen. So she did the only thing she could think of; she grabbed the woman's forearm against her neck and began struggling. She used what strength she had from Atiena to grab at the arm and pull it away from her enough that there was at least some separation. That spike in Suri's power was enough for that and enough that her fangs lengthened to their full stature in this form of hers, and then she bit down.
Suri snarled as she latched her mouth onto the woman's forearm, sinking her teeth into the pale flesh and turning it red as her mouth filled with a flood of copper flavored candy. She drew blood, swallowing some that poured into her throat and letting that burning heat fill her mouth, throat, and stomach. Her claws dug into the woman as well, holding her in place as she bit down, trying to take a chunk of meat, muscle, and skin out of the villain.
The woman cackled.
Not screaming in pain, not even trying to shake Suri off of her. She fucking laughed at it. She laughed and cackled at it all and instead of trying to get Suri off of her, she let the girl gnaw at her. Even when Suri shook her head, worrying at the flesh like a dog with a stuffed animal, the woman laughed even louder and with a shrill, amused tone.
"You're gonna be a fun one," she said, drawing back into her cold, raspy tone. She flexed, jerking Suri back into her with a force that threatened to squeeze the life out of her and then came the sensuous, completely sexual growl into Suri's ear. "Tell you what why don't we-"
"You let her go," Izuku's voice had dropped its fear and instead held that confident rage that was all alpha male. It was that side of him the Atiena especially loved but this… this wasn't the time for that. "Let her go now!"
Suri's eyes stared forward at Izuku. She saw that determined look, the one that said he was going to save her and save everyone. It was that look that promised a hero. It was that look that always made Suri, Tooru, and Mina's hearts thud a little harder and faster. That look and attitude that the beast girl had fallen for.
She would live to see that look again.
Atiena's power flared because she too had that same resolve and with that power, Suri grabbed tight to the woman, this rogue lycanthrope, and twisted herself. She spun on her toes as she pulled the woman off balance and then screamed with a war cry as she whipped around and threw her. What followed was a loud series of snaps and crashes as the woman slammed into and broke through several trees. She never screamed or made any sound at all, in fact, Suri could have sworn the woman was smiling as she went plummeting through the trees.
Suri fell to her hands and knees after the throw, crashing against the ground and panting from the effort it had taken to escape. Then again, with that smile, Suri figured she might be taking it easier on her. That was never a good sign. The pain in her back flared again as her back was bowed in this slumped position and made her arch backwards. She winced hard in pain and through gritted teeth let out a whine that only held a trickle of the pain she was truly in.
"S-Suri, are you," Izuku's word's died on his tongue as he took the few steps to reach her and looked down at her back.
"Goddammit, Izuku, I said run," Suri grunted out, turning up to look at him and Kota.
"A-Are you okay," Kota asked fearfully, tears in the corners of his eyes beginning to drop.
"I'll be fine. Everything's going to be okay, Kota. Right, babe?" She faked a smile for the both of them. Izuku knew it was fake of course but he nodded in response.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Yeah, everything's going to be okay."
"Here puppy kitty puppy kitty puppy kitty~"
The sound of the woman's voice made Suri's head jerk towards the forest where she'd thrown her. And another bout of fear surged through Suri's body. She quickly turned back to the boys, giving Izuku the most stern look that she could give him and growled at him.
"Go. Now."
"Suri, you can't you're-"
Now!" Suri snarled at Izuku, letting her teeth snap at him with the threat of violence. The effect was doubled from the mask of crimson coating Suri's lower jaw and the flare of rage that sparked and turned Suri's eyes into two orbs of chartreuse fire.
The look made him stumble backwards. It took everything Suri had not to relent and match that worried look and instead keep making him fear her. It was the only way he was going to run and get help. She held that look of pure animalistic rage at the greenette until he turned and began trotting through the forest back towards the campus building. Je was finally going for help.
"Here puppy kitty puppy kitty puppy kitty~"
Suri turned back to the forest with a snap, staring to where she had thrown the woman and where that fear inducing voice was coming from. Her eyes stared into the darkness, not able to see or detect any sort of movement or signs of anything there. She flared her nose, scenting the air, trying to find the woman and the fear in her couldn't be helped when the smell of this villain was all around her. She couldn't find her in the dark not…
"Behind you."
It was a whisper into Suri's ear. So gentle and quiet that it betrayed everything this woman was and so jarring that Suri froze, eyes wide and filled to the brim with shock and fear. Pure fear. Fear she hadn't felt in months. Not ever since…
The thought never came to Suri because in that second of hesitation the woman grabbed Suri by the throat, claws embedded into her skin and she pulled. She pulled and Suri expected to have her throat ripped out, to be lying on the ground and choking on her own blood with the woman standing above her. It'd be a fitting end. Maybe a little karma. Instead, Suri felt herself being moved and her feet went out from under her and then came the sensation of flying. Flying, the feeling of being whipped and smacked savagely by tree branches and then crashing. One thud, then two, then four, and finally eight as her body crashed through and violently snapped trees around her. She hit the ground a second later and began bouncing like a toy doll thrown down a street, her body whipping and rolling uncontrollably until all momentum finally gave out.
She smacked against a tree, her head spinning from the disorientation and the overwhelming pain in her entire body, earring ringing with a sharp high pitched whistle, and her sight swam. She was seeing triple and it was threatening to make her nauseous. The threat became real and she threw herself to the side on her hands and knees as her stomach gave way. A wave of blood, food, and bile splashed onto the forest floor, leaving Suri coughing and spitting to get the sour taste out of her mouth and throat. The process repeated as her body forced up another wave and she was left sputtering before she could even attempt to get back to her feet.
Suri spit again and wiped her mouth across the back of her forearm. She refocused her eyes and her senses the best she could as she got back onto shaky ground. Her knees were on the verge of buckling and she laid herself against the tree she had come to a stop at. It was a lapse of judgment as the bark tore into the claw marks and the hundreds of strikes she had taken in the fall. It made her hiss and whine in pain again as she tried to stand her ground for the enemy she knew was coming.
"Atiena," she forced herself to swallow spit and bile and reach into herself for her beast. "How much gas do you have in the tank?"
"Not much, unfortunately," the creature answered.
"Fuck," Suri muttered.
"Fuck, indeed," Atiena sighed as she came to stand with Suri.
"Hehe, I thought you were gonna be fun to play with," the villain's cackled voice came from the darkness. The difference this time was that she was no longer shielding and let Suri feel the aura of power around her waft through the trees.
Gods, she was powerful.
"H-How the hell do you still have this much power after a full moon? You should be just as wiped out by your beast," Suri asked, more stalling than anything. It didn't really matter that she wasn't exhausted because Suri had to somehow, some way beat her. Whatever it took.
"Aww, so little and weak," she laughed bitterly. "Guess you haven't figured that out yet, have you? Oh! Oh my! Heh Hehehe Hehe! You can't change whenever you want, can you?"
Her voice.
Suri quickly looked up above her and found that pair of glowing pink and blue fire inches away from her. She looked straight into the face of the woman, seeing the crazed joy in her eyes and smile. She had shaggy, silver blue hair that was littered with patches and streaks of pink that was done up into a mohawk and shaved completely smooth on the sides of her head around her ears. The style made the dozens of piercings in her ears, lip, nose, and eyebrow more prominent and made the scarring around each piercing stand out. Every single piercing had silver in it. On purpose.
She eyed the tattoo on the left side of the woman's neck; a stylized latin symbol that reminded her of a roman numeral. She recognized it as a zodiac symbol in that next second but couldn't remember which one. Not right now anyway. She eyed the plugs in each of the woman's stretched earlobes with their scribbled faces, one with a smile, the other a frown. That reminded her of theater masks. She was doing more quick inspections on the woman, who inched closer to her coming down the tree upside down like a spider stalking its prey, when Suri felt a wind of energy rise again and lash out at her. She had to jump forward and roll in that split second because, as much as the ground hurt on her back to roll to safety, the punch that rocked the ground where she had been standing would have been worse.
Suri turned back to see the ground below the tree cratered and the base of the tree split open enough that it teetered and almost fell over backwards. Suri had felt the ground shake beneath her as she rolled and it made the escape awkward and off balanced which didn't help her to get back to her feet in the slightest. She came up wobbly again and this time didn't have anywhere to help steady herself.
"Come on little hybrid," her voice was low and even now, flaring with a tinge of anger instead of that manic laughter. "I thought you were supposed to be some sort of badass that was going to be fun to kill? Don't tell me Alpha's daughter is a worthless lightweight."
Suri's anger flared again because this woman had done two things; she had known exactly who and what Suri was, and two, she had insulted her. She let the heat of her energy radiate outwards and fill the space around her, letting that electric breath of energy whip at the other woman. That simply made the rogue lycanthrope grin.
"Ooo~ Okay, I get it. Now I see why Hyrum wanted to fuck that pretty little face of yours. Hehe," she began cackling again, her voice flipping from that serious, mature rasp that promised violence to that wavering maniacal dream girl voice that promised utter chaos.
The mention of that name made Suri's face and attitude drop. That rage disappeared in an instant and was replaced by a flood of fear and panic. So much so that it made Suri take a step back from the woman.
"Oh please~ Don't tell me you don't wanna fight now," the woman pouted and gave Suri the most convincing puppy dog eyes she'd seen anyone ever give. "Don't you wanna rip my throat out? Don't you wanna kill me?"
"N-No!" Suri shouted nervously, taking a step back as the villainess took a step closer. "No! I don't want to kill anyone. Ever!"
"But, Suri," she whined like a pouty child. "If you don't kill me…"
"Then I'm going to kill your friends and family," the woman whispered it straight into Suri's ear.
Suri hadn't even blinked, and yet, she was standing an inch from the woman now. Her voice was that cold violent rasp which Suri now guessed was the woman's beast but she wasn't sure with how much the voice and tone switched around. The real trouble was the fact that in less than a second, the woman had made up that ten yard difference. She had also threatened everyone in Suri's life in one single breath and in that moment, Suri wasn't sure if there was anything she could do to stop her from doing it.
That hesitation and fearful thought blinded Suri to what happened next.
Suri was feeling weightless again, blinked, and found she was flying, heading straight for trees only this time it wasn't her back that would make the crash landing. She had a split second to tuck herself and try to absorb the blows as she hit the first tree with her shoulder. She had tucked her head and put her shoulder out in a sort of football tackle as she went through a line of trees instead of a series of defensive linemen. The first and second blows were the hardest and she screamed in pain as the second tree hit her at an angle that dislocated her right arm.
If it wasn't the tree, it would have been the ground to pop her arm out of its socket because she hit the ground harder than she had hit the trees. Her tuck and roll method that she was trying for failed and instead of rolling through the impact, she bounced off the forest floor with her face sending a sharp pain throughout her body from below her right eye. She was pretty sure her cheek bone had just cracked from the force.
She scrambled on all fours to hide behind a tree, gritted her teeth and winced as she tried resetting her arm by herself. It was a painful process that she couldn't seem to get right and when she heard the cackling in the distance, she gave up. And then she gave up completely and wept. Tears began pouring down her cheeks, burning as they crossed over the cuts all over her cheeks and jaw. In that moment of utter despair she realized how weak and useless she was. Realized how much danger she had put her friends in and how, because of her, she might watch the three people she had fallen in love with die.
If she was the reason…
Suri sniffled and sobbed as she dragged herself to her feet. Her feet began padding at the ground faster with each step. She ran. Ran through the trees as fast as she could away from the camp, away from everyone she cared about, and, most of all, away from the woman that was trying to kill her. She was running yet again. Not fur fun but because she was weak. She was running because she couldn't face whoever this woman was head on. She couldn't face what she had brought upon her friends. She ran because she couldn't face their brutalized corpses if this woman got her way with them.
She ran… from Tooru, Mina, and Izuku. The three people she was in love with. She ran because they deserved better. Better than her. Someone who could actually protect them and wasn't weak like she was.
She ran because she had truly realized who she was after all.
Who had she been kidding? Thinking she could live up to her dad and brother's expectations and that she could fill those shoes better than them. The first sign of something scary and she ran like the scared little girl she was and always would be.
She wasn't a queen or anything close to that.
No.
Suri ran because she was what she had always been; a selfish, worthless piece of shit pretending she was strong or could protect anyone at all.
Including herself.