If I'm being honest, I didn't think anyone was gonna read my fanfic lol. But I'm happy that people are liking and following it and my profile, thank you all. So far the story has focused heavily on Izuku learning fire bending and then flame breathing but don't worry, I'll work in the other elements and breathing styles in later chapters. It would really help to get some feedback though. thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 9: Blade of flame and Something Else
Izuku is breathing heavily while holding the practice sword Iroh gave him. The blade isn't made of nichirin steal but it's still fairly deadly like any other blade. Iroh told him to swing the sword one hundred times in different motions.
"I may not know how to perform flame breathing, but I have seen my nephew practice the techniques many times. He would swing his sword in vertical and horizontal ways to build strength in the arms and power in the attacks."
Iroh said while watching the boy. The man will correct any errors that were shown and give advice when something wasn't working. Izuku kept on swinging the blade as well as keeping up with his other training. Lifting the sword got more difficult with every swing. If he started this training before building up his body then he's sure that he wouldn't have done more than ten swings. To his surprise, the sword didn't start to feel heavy until his fiftieth swing.
Once he was done swinging, he would work on more hand to hand combat with Iroh and other students. Iroh seemed to know many fighting styles with the sword and hand to hand thanks to him gathering knowledge all over the world. Izuku would watch him perform the techniques and with his analytical eye, memorize the movements to near perfection. He is glad that Iroh is there to make changes where he saw things wrong. Then they would end training with more fire bending.
After the first day of training with the katana, Izuku nearly vomited like the end of their very first lessons. The boy is on his hands and knees, struggling for breath as Iroh pats his back. Izuku looks up at Iroh with tired eyes.
"Wh-what kind of monster is your n-nephew?"
He asked in a ragged voice. Iroh let out a belly laugh and fell onto his behind. Izuku looked slightly annoyed but smiled still.
"You didn't think that this would be easy, did you? That being said my nephew was the same way when we practiced together and after he left to join the corps. It all comes to you the more you train."
Izuku couldn't agree more with Iroh. When he first got to the Jasmine Dragon, his fire control was basically non-existent, but now he's graduated and moved on to learn new things. He stands up with the sword in hand. Taking a breath to calm his heart, he starts to swing the blade again with more passion. Iroh nods his head at Izuku's form. After another hour of practice swings Iroh places a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"That should be enough for today my boy. Go home and get some rest. we'll do some more tomorrow after your school."
Izuku lets out a breath with smoke coming out of his mouth and nods tiredly. He sheathes the sword and hands it to Iroh. The man pushes the blade back to Izuku and smiles at him. This casuses Izuku to look at him in confusion.
"This sword along with my nephew's now belong to you. I trust that you won't do anything dangerous or harmful to anyone but those who wish to bring harm. You must also train when not here as well."
The sword feels heavier in Izuku's hands after hearing Iroh's words. He knows that a sword is used to end a life but he wants to change that. He wants to be a hero afterall, not a murderer. There is a fine line between protecting and harming.
"Thank you so much Mr. Iroh. I won't disappoint you. I'll use all of my strenth and energy to master the way of the sword."
They both share a breif hug before Izuku gathers his belongings and heads home. Now that he's old enough, Inko trusted Izuku to go to and from practice by himself.The walk to the train station didn't take long as he jogged most of the way without breaking a sweat. As he saw the train station come into view he slows down. Deciding on the quicker option, he ditches the stairs and climbs up the side of the station platform using the opening spots for footholds and hand placements.
Once on the platform he takes a seat on the bench while digging through his work out bag. He takes out a pastry that has chocolate frosting on it. Before he takes a bite, he sees a girl running towards the bench out of breath. He can't help but notice her purple hair and the jacks that dangle from her ears. Izuku's brain goes straight into analysis mode.
'Her ears look interesting. Can they plug into machines and control them? Ah wait, one of them in plugged into her phone. Is she listening to music?'
The girl takes a moment to catch her breath and notices that Izuku is staring at her with a blank expression. She gets a little weirded out once she hears the soft muttering he does to himself. Waving her hand infront of his face to get him to stop, he snaps back to the present.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to creep you out."
The girl chuckles a bit and takes a seat on the bench. Izuku takes this moment to fully look at her. She is wearing a light purple shirt that says 'Deep Dope' with black pants and a pair of leather boots.
"It's fine, I know my ears are a bit weird to look at."
After she said that, Izuku started waving his arms around frantically in a panic.
"No, no it's not that! I mean, I think they look really cool. I was just thinking about how they work. I'm sorry."
The girl blushes slightly at what he said, not used to earing people say that. She knows that he's being honest as well through the sound of his heart beat.
"Th-Thanks. Usually people are put off by them."
She lifts up her free hand to her ear and the free jack wraps around it. Izuku watches the jack stretch in fascination then quickly stops staring.
"By the way, my name is Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you."
He bows his head slightly and looks at her again. She bows back with a soft smile.
"You as well. Name's Kyouka Jirou."
As she introduced herself, she notices the sword Izuku is carrying along with his work out bag. Intrigued, she points at the weapon.
"Nice sword, are you training to be a hero?"
Izuku looks at his sword then back at Kyouka with a smile. He tears the pastry in half and offers it to her. Shes a bit surprised but takes the offer and smiles back.
"Yes I am. I plan on entering U.A next year so that I can get some really good training in."
Kyouka takes a bite of the pastry, humming in satisfaction.
"I actually plan on entering U.A as well. My earphone jacks aren't that powerful but with the right gear I can make them useful."
Just as she said that, the train that Izuku needs to get on pull in. The boy stands up and gives the gurl like a wide smile and a thumbs up. She's caught off guard by his enthusiasm.
"Try not to think of it like that. I bet that even without gear you can do some pretty amazing things. I gotta go, but hopefully we'll see eachother around. It was nice meeting you."
Izuku stuffs his half of the pastry in his mouth and runs inside the train while waving at Kyouka. Once he takes a seat the reality of what happened comes to him.
'I just talked to a girl! And a really pretty one too!'
He covers his face in embarrassment at the thought.
-Midoriya Apartment-
Izuku sat on his bed with the black case and the red case in front of him. Ever since his mother told him the truth of his father, he's kept the black case in his closet. He loves his father deep in his heart, but the pain of him not being around is still there. The sword would only make him think of it more. He opens the black case to finally get a look at his fathers nichirin blade.
There is a lightening design that forms from the top to bottom of the blade. The blade itself it a shining silver that reflects what comes across it. the guard is a grey storm cloud with small rain drops on it. The handle is wrapped in black wrappings with a spiked blade on the bottom in the shape of a water drop. Izuku is impressed at the way the nichirin blade looks. He slowly reaches out to the katana with shaky hands.
He picks up the katana with both hands and is hit with a familiar feeling. Instead of a rush like with Zuko's blade, he felt an electric shock feeling that made him almost drop the blade. The color of the lightening turns from blue to green like the flame design on the other katana. The silver changes into a black like color, like a shadow. The guard remains the same but the blade on the bottom of the handle changes to the same black like the back of the top blade. To Izuku, the design looks off with the wrapping on the handle adding too much black to his taste.
He gets off the bed and stands up holding his father's katana. Remembering the training that Iroh gave him, he starts to perform the practice swings while counting each one. He notes that swinging the sword that belonged to his father felt different than swinging the practice sword or even Zuko's sword. As he continues to swing his mind wonders to what his mom said about the night she saw his father die.
'Why wasn't I brought along with her? The reasons that dad gave make sense, but he knew that it would of been my last chance to see him.'
Not even counting the swings anymore, the boy starts to get emotional and angry. The swings get stronger with each passing one. Smoke starts to come off of the blade as he swings more.
'Why didn't he want to see me? Was it too much?'
More swings of the katana are made with the smoke getting stronger. Izuku's resistance to heat keeps him from noticing the blade. He lifts the blade for a vertical swing. Letting out a breath he had no idea he was holding, he swings hard. A loud crack of electricity suddenly fills the room. Izuku falls to his knees as his body twitches slightly. He loses consciousness shortly after that.
-Else where-
Izuku's eyes snap open and he quickly sits up. The world around him is the same dark void that he saw so many years ago. He looks around curiously to see if anything or anyone is with him. There is nothing for what seems like miles. As he gets up, he can hear something in the distance. Once on his feet, there is a blinding light that flashes for a moment blinding him. Izuku covers his eyes and braces himself for anything.
The light dies out after a while leaving Izuku to once again see the embers of the elements surrounding him. There is the water, stone, air, fire, and electricity embers that float in the same spots from when he was a small child. The difference this time is that the fire ember is bigger than the others and burning extremely hot. Like the last time, he can feel the intensity of the heat but isn't burned. Reaching out for the fire ember, Izuku is surprised to see it moves back from his touch.
"What the? I thought you like me."
He says to himself. He stands back in the middle and the fire moves back to it's original spot. Finally hearing something crackle and pop, he turns to the electricy ember that is dancing in place. Watching the electricity he then finds out what the noise he heard earlier is rain falling. He takes a step closer to the electric ember and he notices that the dance gets more erratic, like it's excited. Reaching out his hand, he slowly gets closer and closer. Once contact is made, there is a loud thunder clap heard with the electricity traveling up Izuku's arm and around his body.
Instead of feeling power like he did with fire, he felt something different. It's like time slowed down for him, even though he couldn't tell how time is going by in the void like place. It's a feeling that he could only describe as power. Not like in strength but in a way that fueld his body or that of how a battery powers devices. He then hears the voice that he hasn't heard in so long, in the same faint tone.
"Breathe in, Izuku."
The boy obliges and takes a deep breath. The electricity travels from his body into his mouth and the shock turns into a feeling that makes his body shake, almost vibrate. He looks down at his body and sees just like the fire, the electricity travels throught his blood vessels, bones, and organs. He feels his blood pumping faster until everything goes black.
-Midoriya Apartment-
Inko was in the kitchen making dinner until she heard a loud noise that sounded like thunder. That wouldn't bother her too much, but the fact that it came from Izuku's room nearly have her a heart attack. She rushed across the apartment and nearly blows the door off it's hinges. She sees Izuku laying on the floor with Hishashi's katana next to him. She moves to blade away but notices that Izuku is slightly twitching. If she looks closely, she can see blue and green electricity traveling around his body is small streaks.
She reaches out slowly to try to touch Izuku but is shocked slightly. She lets out a yelp of pain and hold her hand. Thinking of something to do, she reaches out again, this time using her quirk to lighlty pull on her son's shirt to shake him. It takes a few pulls but eventually Izuku is shaken awake with a gasp coming from the boy. The electricity that covered his body disappears and the boy quickly sits up feeling his body around. He notices his mother next to him and latches on to her in a tight hug.
Inko automatically hugs him back with tears falling down her face. The thought of losing her son would definitely cause her to pass her breaking point.
"Mom, why didn't dad want to see me before he died?"
The question caught Inko off guard as her body froze up. This didn't go unnoticed by Izuku, but he couldn't stop now. He needed answers to why his father hadn't said anything to him since he was a small child. Inko saw the look in her son's eyes and knew that the answers she gave before wouldn't be enough this time.
"I don't know Izuku, I really don't. He said that a boy shouldn't have to see his father die, but i dont think that's the full reason either. I've thought about it for so long. It made me angry when some time passed."
Izuku held on to his mother while tears fell down his face. He though of how Iroh filled the position of his father for all the years he attended the Jasmine Dragon. Why wasn't he satisfied with those memories? Iroh did more than what any other person besides his mother to help guide him on the right path. The changes to his body are confusing and a bit scary if he's being honest with himself. At first he was happy to have his dad's quirk because its similar to Iroh's, but now that he can feel the electricity inside him, he understands that his quirk is something completely different.
"It doesn't make sense. I know he protected us from harm as well as other people but he could of done other things to keep in contact."
Izuku says while holding up one of his hands. He can see the faint electricity buzzing around his fingers. Inko sees the electicity as well and gasps. She looks confused and worried while Izuku shakes the sparks away.
"Something is happening to me. I don't know what it is, but it all started when my quirk manifested. I thought it was a stronger version of dad's or maybe a combination of yours and his but it's not. It's getting stronger with each new thing I learn. Not only do I have control over fire, now I can generate some kind of electricity."
He looks into his mother's eyes and sees her shocked expression. He then notices his father's katana is a few feet away. from them. He points at the blade and his mother follows.
"I think dad is talking to me somehow."
-Next day, Izuku's school"
Izuku sat at his desk waiting for the teacher to stop talking. He honestly didn't care for the lesson because he read ahead in all his text books and knew what they were talking about. Just one more week and the school year will come to an end. Luckily for him Katsuki hasn't bothered him too much after there fight in the park. He's the only one that noticed that the blonde walks with a slight limp to his step. Izuku flexed his hand again, making sure his fingers are okay. It's funny but he's noticed that his injuries always heal slightly faster than others, nothing too crazy though.
The bell rings and the students gather their belongings to head home. Izuku stays behind for a moment, letting Katsuki and his so called friends leave first. He still has a bit of time before heading to the Jasmine Dragon to continue his sword training. Looking out the window he smiles slightly. A small weight has been lifted after he talked to his mom about the way he's been feeling about his father's passing. There's still sadness and anger, but also some sort of understanding. He takes a small breath and snaps his fingers. There's a small green and blue spark that emits from the action that makes him smile.
'Fire and electricity huh? That's not a bad combination at all. Maybe after learning flame breathing, I can ask for someone to teach me thunder breathing too. Well that's if I can even find the flame Hashira that Iroh mentioned.'
Letting out a yawn that had some smoke come out to it, he stood up and gathered his belongings. He thought of the fastest route to get home so that he can grab his swords and head to Iroh. He left the classroom and made his way out of the building, occasionally saying his goodbyes to various students and teachers who are still around. Once outside he started jogging in the direction of his home. Not trusting the electric side of his quirk he took a note from Katsuki's book and places his hands behind him. He ran into the park not far from the school and inhales deeply. Letting the breath out slowly he feels fire shooting from his hands that give him a boost in speed.
'Ah, I'm surprised this actually works. Its a good thing my legs can keep up with the added speed from the flames to make me go faster.'
The downside to this move is that he has to make sure not to catch any of the trees or grass on fire. He knows that if he wanted to, he can gi faster but that would risk burning down the park trees. Once he git close enough he releases the flames and rolls forward to slow down. Once he's stopped he lets out a laugh much similar to Iroh's own.
"Now that was fun."
He stands up and starts to dust off his uniform. In the excitement of his experiment working, he foegot that his black uniform would get dirty in his atrempt to stop. As he dusted himself off some of it made his nose wrinkle. The boy let out a mighty sneeze that cause electricity to form from his mouth and let out violently. A loud clap similar to thunder is heard as the boy flies back a good ten feet. Luckily, or maybe unluckily for him a tree was what made him stop moving back. As he slid down to his rear one thought crossed his mind.
'Great, here we go again.'
Yay, that's it for chapter 9 everyone! How do you guys feel about the changes in the flame katana and how I made Hisashi's katana look? I like the idea of green and blue being the colors that affiliate Izuku's inner power. I aslo can't wait to reveal what Hashira that Hisashi was but with the hints given I'm sure that most will figure it out. Like always, I hope that everyone is enjoying the story so far. Please leave some feedback as that will motivate me to write more often. Thanks again, and have a good one!!!