Temari checked over her things one last time, nodding to herself before slinging her backpack on and hefting her costume case, 'hey dad, i'm out!" she called, heading straight for the door.
"Hold on a second there champ!" her fathers call had her skidding to a stop near the door, turning around to watch her father Limp out of his room.
Once upon a time he had been Ultraman, the number 18 hero of Japan, that had been over thirteen years ago, now Ryo Sendo was a shadow of his formal self, his once windswept brown hair was now dull and limp, his once powerful frame was now thin and frail, and he wore pajama bottoms and a baggy shirt that swayed a bit as he leaned on his cane instead of his blue and white hero uniform.
"I could've gone to you old man." Temari chastised him worriedly, at his side in an instant before he could collapse, urging her to help him to his recliner. "I just wanted to wish you luck." He said with a tired smile, plopping into the recliner, "I haven't seen Gran Torino in over 20 years, but I do remember he was a hard ass."
"Thats what I've heard." Temari chuckled, sitting down across from him, after checking she had time, "Toshi promises he'll put me through the ringer."
Ryo nodded, "you do your best." He said seriously, "and remember I'll always be proud of you."
Temari smiled and stood up, kissing her dad's forehead, "Tachibana will be here to cook for you and help you with everything around the house, no straining yourself okay?"
"I'm supposed to be the father." He joked, chuckling as she playfully punched his shoulder, even the gentle hit had him swaying a bit I'm his chair, "I'll be fine, you focus on being the best hero you can be."
"Love you pops," she said before taking off once more.
Ryo watched her leave, not looking away from the door until she was long gone, "Kami, protect my daughter." He Said softly, before turning his TV on.
Temari ran a good length of the way to the train station, skidding to a halt right in front of Jirou, who looked less than impressed, "you still have five minutes before our train leaves." She deadpanned, making Temari chuckle nervously.
"Thought I spent longer talking to my dad." She huffed, catching her breath, "Where's Midoriya?"
"He doesn't have to report to his work-study until night." Jirou explained, "he'll be heading straight to Hosu with Seras."
"And he's trying to find angels?" She questioned.
"Catholic priests who are trying to get their converts back."
"...that sounds so wrong."
"I've been trying to wrap my head around that since he told us." she groaned, rubbing her eyes, "either way he won't be out until around ten tonight."
"Maybe Iida will see him around." Temari pondered, "and maybe Izuku can keep an eye on him."
"I know Izuku's been worried." she said, "he thinks Iida might try and go after Stain but…I mean, it's Iida, he wouldn't…would he?"
"Don't know, I don't wanna know how i'd handle it if my old man got injured by a villain," TEmari grunted, "his brother was his idol, I can't imagine he's taking his injury well."
Yo guys!" Kirishima called as he approached them, Bakugo strolling along behind him, hands in his pockets and glowering at everything, "you guy's ready!?" the redhead cheered.
"You know it." Temari grinned, abandoning the conversation they'd just been having, Jirou nodding along.
"Who'd you guy's go with?" Jirou asked, "i'm heading to Death Arms."
"I got Fourth Kind!" Kirishima exclaimed, "he's so manly!"
Bakugo jutted his jaw out, "Best Jeanist." he said curtly.
"No way!" Jirou blurted, "he sent you a request?"
"Yeah, what of it? He obviously saw my power!" Bakugo bragged with a savage grin.
"That's not how best jeanist operates." Jirou deadpanned, "all of his sidekicks have technical quirks, you're way out of his usual picks."
"Maybe he impressed him!" Kirishima optimistically suggested.
"Or he thinks he can 'fix him'." Temari said with quotations, making Jirou laugh.
"I don't think you can fix that." she chortled.
"Oi! The fuck you mean by that Earlobes!" Bakugo demanded to know hotly.
"Oh look the bus is here," Temari feigned surprise as she and Jirou quickly boarded, Kirishima and a Steaming Bakugo right behind them.
"DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME AND TELL ME YOU COWARD!"
The girls laughed as they sat down at the back of the bus, "you didn't tell us who you were going with Temari." Kirishima said, leaning over his seat to look at his friends while Bakugo sat down with his arms crossed, surlier than usual.
"Oh…I went with Gran Tarino." she said flippantly.
"Who's Gran Tarino?" Jirou asked in confusion.
"Old pro, supposedly All-Might's teacher back when he was in UA."
"WHAT!?" Bakugo exclaimed, jealousy and understanding written on his face.
"That's so freakin' Manly!" Kirishima pumped a fist, "you're gonna be training with All-Might's teacher!"
"That is pretty impressive." Jirou admitted, leaning back in her seat, "how'd you find out about that?"
"All-Might made the recommendation when the request came in." Temari said, sweat dropping at the memory.
"N-n-now Young Sendo, I know I said your choice was yours…b-b-b-but t-there's another r-request that came in t-that I h-higly suggest." All-Might stuttered, visibly shaking as he mechanically stretched the request out to her, which shhe took with a bit of morbid curiosity.
"Why are you shaking like that?" she asked in worry.
"W-well the Old Man is my old teacher, h-he taught me everything I know." All-Might laughed nervously, "a-and h-his teaching methods are…shall we say…damn it legs stop shaking!"
"He was pretty terrified of the guy." she informed them, shivering a bit, "makes you wonder what kind of monster this guy is that even the Symbol of Peace is scared of him."
"He must be super powerful and manly!" Kirishima cheered.
"Hmph, good luck, sounds like you'll need it." Bakugo grumbled.
"Don't act like you're not jealous Bakugo." Jirou snickered.
"FUCK OFF! I'M NOT JEALOUS!"
Temari chuckled under her breath, while mentally worrying about what was in store for her.
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The train ride from the station had mostly been uneventful, she'd shared a cart with Iida for part of her journey, but he'd resolutely refused to give her attempts at conversation anything other than a few words before falling silent once more.
Now she was heading towards an old looking two story building that had clearly seen better days, she looked down at her reference paper and groaned when she realized this was the address. "Seriously? Guy can't be that dangerous living in a place like this." she muttered, knocking and the door and waiting for a moment.
Slowly the door creaked open and she peaked in, "hello? Gran Tarino?" she called, stepping in and cringing when she stepped in something wet and sticky, "what the-HOLY SHIT!" Temari cried out seeing an old man in a yellow and white hero suit collapsed on the ground, covered in blood. "He fuckin' died!"
"I'm alive!" Gran Tarino popped up.
"HOLY-!" Temari lashed out with a superpowered punch, her fist didn't even graze the man as he suddenly shot away from her, bouncing around the room before slamming his foot into her head, pinning her to the ground.
"Good, your situational awareness is pretty sharp." He sneered, "you seem to have a handle on this borrowed power."
"How did you…I was…" Temari grunted, trying to push herself up only for Gran to push down harder.
"All that speed gives you tunnel vision, you're quite linear, even that punch you threw was so televised you might have well not used One For All." he taunted, "your Agility needs work, and your energy output as well, a punch like that could've seriously hurt me!"
Temari finally got tired of being pinned, bringing her feet up in an attempt to grapple the mans neck, only for him to blast away from her, she was able to get to her feet in time to get kicked in her stomach.
"Slow! You're using the power but you're stiff!" He jumped back, "we got a lot of work ahead of us, ya Zygote."
"You're…gran Tarino?" She wheezed out, straightening out as best she could as Gran Tarino stared at her, then seemed to morph into a senile old man as he asked, "Toshinori?"
"WHAT!?"
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Izuku woke up to Yuka jumping on his bed with an exclamation of "Dog pile!" with a huge exhale of breath Izuku rolled over and fell on the ground, the wind effectively knocked out of him while his sister jumped on his back laughing.
"Bad Yuka…" he gasped as the air returned to him, "what have we said about jumping on people?"
"To not to." she pouted, stopping her jumping and landing in a sitting position on his bed, "but I wanna play! You're gonna be gone for a week!"
Izuku checked his watch, "sadly I need to get going." he said, ruffling her hair and getting up fully.
"Awww." her pout deepend as she flopped back on his bed.
Izuku smiled as he gently picked her up and deposited her on the other side of the door, "how about I leave some of my familiars for you to play with? You can choose three."
She immediately brightened, "oh! Snoopy and Loopy!" she cheered.
Immediately the shadows warped and a floppy eared basset hound with two heads loped out alongside a black furred bunny with several horns poking out of it's sleek fur. They immediately bowled Yuka over, burrowing happily into her side as she giggled.
"That was only two." Izuku reminded her.
"But Snoopy has two heads." she reasoned.
"Attached to one body." he reminded.
"oh…um…Bale-eye!"
Once again the shadows warped and a six winged Raven flew out, landing on her head and affectionately tapping her forehead.
"Thank you Izu!" she cheered, giving him a real quick hug before scooping up her friends and retreating to the living room.
Izuku chuckled and went back into his room, changing into his hero costume as Baskerville loped through the window, "anything?" he questioned.
"We tracked them to Hosu." Alucard's voice droned, Baskerville shaking his head a bit as he did, "there it became difficult to follow, they've been doubling back quite a bit."
"Thank you, I'll take over from here." Izuku said as he dropped into the shadows, Baskerville following.
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Temari groaned as she flopped down in her bed for the week, glaring at the ceiling as Gran Torino's words echoed in her head.
"You can use your full power but you're still slow, only going for linear attacks. Almost like you're trying to imitate that blonde oaf!"
"It's not like I'm trying to." she growled, turning heatedly over to glare at the wall.
Her phone rang and she once again rolled over, glancing at the screen before answering, "sup splodey." she mumbled quietly.
"You sound rough." he grunted on the other end of the line, "first day go that bad?"
"No, just being reminded that I've been neglecting my martial arts." she sighed, "so of course i'm pissy about it."
"Probably because you've been fighting All-Might for the last six months," Bakugo scoffed, "even when fighting us you usually go for overwhelming strength instead of any kind of tactical approach like you would've back in Appachai's gym."
"I know, I know," she groaned, flopping onto her back to glare once more at the ceiling, " I just got that reamed into me over the course of the afternoon, I don't need to hear another 'I told you so' from you."
"Well you're gonna get it, because I rarely get to have that over you." he taunted, "Just be happy your solution is an easy fix."
"Not as easy as you think." she sighed, "how's your internship? You sound stressed."
"..."
"Come on Bakugo, it can't be that bad." Temari urged him, sitting up a bit.
"...shitty Ears was right." he muttered lowly, angrily, "fuckin' Jeanist wants to 'fix me' like there's anything to fix!"
"Oh yeah, you're the epitome of the perfect hero." she said sarcastically, "wouldn't have anything to do with your attitude would it?"
"My attitude is perfectly fine." he snapped. Making her snort.
"If I can admit my faults, you can too." She said gently, much more gently than she usually talks to him, "it's not a weakness to admit it."
"...I might get a little angry…from time to time." he said through gritted teeth. "But that's because of my quirk-"
"-and you have to manage it," she reminded him, " just like everyone else with quirks that affect their life. Hell, I was breaking my arm every other week when I got one for all."
"No one ever had a problem with my attitude before."
"That's a lie and you know it." she deadpanned, smiling when she got a chuckle out of him. "No one's asking you to change your personality, Katsuki, but you still gotta be a lot nicer when there's cameras.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." he muttered, "but if he tries to comb my hair again I'm blowing up his damn hair salon.
Temari burst out laughing, "I'd pay money to see that." She chortled, "just please don't try and get expelled on your first internship, I don't think that'd look good for your autobiography."
"Right…hey, Temari?"
"Yeah?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at how soft his voice was.
"...nevermind, i'll talk to you tomorrow, goodnight."
"Goodnight-" she stopped as the line cut, making her sigh, 'what was that about?" she mumbled, even though she was pretty sure she knew, with a sigh she fell back onto the bed, "guess sleep's the next step." She mumbled, closing her eyes.
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Izuku slowly walked through the cold alley, red eyes scanning the dirty concrete as Baskerville loped alongside him, "this is the last location we were able to accurately find a trace of them." Alucard droned as a rat came scurrying out from under a trash can, dragging a strip of fabric to Izuku, who picked it up and observed it, "perhaps from a cloak?"
My thoughts exactly." Alucard admitted, "unknown where they went from here, they ran into another scent, it smells of frankincense and diluted wine, an agent of the papal? Perhaps Iscariot has sent one of their dogs."
"Was there anything else you could discern?" Izuku asked, standing up as he moved further down the alley.
"They had a brief fight, scars in the wall and a few crushed trash cans supporting that…but they were interrupted by something, or someone. And they diverged. We were unable to pick up the scent after this."
Izuku nodded, looking up at the roof, "send the hounds out once more, leave no alleyway unchecked. We have to find them."
"And what of the hero killer?" Baskerville cocked his head to the side at ALucard's question, "His preferred hunting ground are these very same Alleyway."
Izuku felt his ire rise at the thought of the man, "he harmed a dear friend's brother." he said, stalking towards the streets, vapor expelling from the valves on his mask, "I will only say this once."
"Search and Destroy."