Izuku was on a catharsis high that reached down to the marrow of his bones as he finished his explanation. He was a pile on the floor still half curled from his crying, and fatigue had set in, making his eyes droop with sleep.
Kacchan never interrupted him; his eyes trained on Izuku the whole time. When Izuku finished, Kacchan stood up without a word and left the room.
Izuku didn't question him, too tired to do more than watch him disappear into the hallway. Some part of him wanted to ask what he thought of it all. Deep down, he had wanted to tell Kacchan since the moment All Might had offered him the opportunity. He had been so close to his dream, to save everyone with a smile. And for Kacchan to finally see him as his equal, worthy to stand by his side instead of chasing from behind.
Kacchan returned a few minutes later, two large blankets in either hand. He draped one over Izuku and laid himself out next to him, blankets up to his chin as he closed his eyes. Izuku watched him, confused and unsure of the kindness his usual bully was showing him.
"Go to sleep Deku, we'll figure things out in the morning." Kacchan never looked at him, but he turned his back to him.
Izuku couldn't say when he fell asleep or if he ever did. All he knew was opening his eyes after what felt like only minutes, and it was morning again. Izuku saw that Kacchan was no longer lying there beside him but instead was stuffing items into two bags.
"Kacchan?" He asked.
Without looking at him, Kacchan threw a black t-shirt at Izuku as he headed towards the kitchen. Izuku put on the shirt without question. It was difficult with the splint, but after some maneuvering, Izuku was able to put on the shirt with minimal pain. He wasn't sure what was happening, so he followed Kacchan into the other room when he didn't come back right away.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
Kacchan grabbed four water bottles a pile of protein bars already waiting on the counter. "What does it look like I'm doing, you mentioned the safety area last night right, weren't you planning to head there?"
Izuku scratched the back of his head, still chasing away the morning fog of sleep.
"Well yeah, but shouldn't we talk about this first? I mean, you haven't said anything about what I told you." He didn't know what he wanted Kacchan to say to him, but the lack of response was a little disconcerting.
"What's there to say All Might chose you right? Now you have a quirk, a shitty quirk that you have no idea how to use without breaking yourself, but knowing you, you'll analyze the shit out of it until you figure it out." He grabbed the last of the items he deemed necessary and moved to put them in each respective pack as Izuku followed him.
As Kacchan moved around the room, Izuku noticed an area with all the broken furniture piled high. At first, Izuku thought that Kacchan had done it to clear the space for them, but he noticed how the boy seemed to avoid the area entirely. He drew closer and noticed it was all placed as a way to surround something.
"Deku don't." Kacchan's voice made Izuku jump as he turned around to look at him. Kacchan wasn't looking at him, but the tone in his voice had an edge as it cracked at the end.
Izuku moved even closer, ignoring Kacchan's warning as a feeling of foreboding came over him.
There in the center, out of the eyesight of either boy, were two bloody white sheets. Izuku instinctively knew without having two ask who were under those sheets.
Masaru and Mitsuki Bakugou.
Kacchan's parents.
"I told you not to look." Kacchan said.
"How did it happen?" Izuku moved away, unable to look at the scene any longer.
He knew they were dead, but he couldn't process that they were gone. It wasn't like All Might, who he had seen with his own eyes. He tried to picture his auntie and uncle under those sheets, cold and lifeless, but he could only imagine his uncle's sweet smile and auntie Mitsuki's satisfied smirk as she teased Kacchan. Maybe it was because he didn't see their bodies, but it didn't feel natural. This all felt like a horrible dream that he couldn't seem to wake up from.
"It doesn't matter now, I was too weak to protect them." Kacchan said.
Izuku opened his mouth to protest, but Kacchan didn't give him a chance as he left the room without a glance at him.
The message was clear; Kacchan was done talking about it.
As time passed, Izuku waited, leaning back against one of the walls as Kacchan moved about the house picking things up only to put them back down. Opening cabinets only to close them again.
There was an anxious energy to the blonde as he moved around the house as if still looking for something. It wouldn't be evident to most, but Izuku had spent most of his life watching the other boy that even these subtle ticks he knew.
Katsuki was stalling.
Izuku pulled his broken arm closer to his side; the physical pain kept him in the present, not allowing him to fall apart like he usually would have. Kacchan didn't need that right now.
"Kacchan, we need to go before anyone else shows up." He said.
Izuku had spent years chasing after Kacchan, and in all that time, he couldn't remember when he was this quiet. Kacchan was an angry person by default. He never did anything he didn't want to do and did everything in the same loud, passionate extreme way that matched his explosion quirk.
But this quiet, submissive person. This shell had to stop what he was doing to process that Izuku was talking to him. This side was something Izuku had never seen before.
It took a moment before he pulled on his pack and turned to Izuku as if waiting for him to tell him what to do.
Izuku realized he was letting him take the lead. That told Izuku everything he needed to know.
Katsuki Bakugou had shut down.
Izuku would rather see him kicking and screaming, would almost prefer to hear the usual insults of how weak he was or quirkless, than this.
He knew Kacchan was probably in shock. The pain Izuku felt over the disappearance of his mother was almost too much, but at least there was a chance she was still alive, at least she hadn't been murdered.
No, Izuku couldn't blame Kacchan for checking out temporarily, but that left Izuku with the task of keeping them alive long enough to find help. So he settled his nerves and decided they needed to go over their plans,
"Things may have quieted down some, the fact that no one has come in while we've been here says as much, but we should stick to the back roads as much as possible and avoid getting into any fights if we can help it." Izuku said.
Izuku grabbed the jacket Kacchan had placed above his pack, putting it on as he was mentally prepared for whatever laid ahead of them outside. The villain they had faced had shown how inexperienced they were in combat, and so he knew they had to play it smart long enough to get to their destination.
'The Villain...'
Izuku was reminded that he had yet to see the villain, and the idea that he had killed him made him hesitate as he looked at Kacchan.
" Villain...?" He asked.
Kacchan's blank stare hardened at the edges, his eyes going a dark red as he looked back at Izuku, making him flinch in response.
"He's dead." He said.
Izuku recoiled at the news; the worst-case scenario had occurred. Izuku had never wanted to kill someone, even though he wanted to be a hero. His goal had always been to save everyone, and now he had taken a life.
Kacchan continued as if already knowing where Izuku's thoughts were running towards.
"You didn't kill him." He said.
That put Izuku at ease as he let out the breath he had been holding. He didn't kill anyone, but he paused as the following thought came to mind, and he looked at Kacchan with dread of who did, but Kacchan didn't elaborate further.
And against his better judgment, Izuku chose not to voice the truth of what this meant.
One day he hoped Kacchan would tell him, but he decided today was not that day.
"Uhh...so...well, once we get to the hospital, we can see about finding out more about what's going on, and hopefully we'll find my mom.
Kacchan flinched at the word mom but otherwise didn't comment.
Izuku moved closer to the two bodies of the people he once saw as family. He sent a small prayer, regret heavy in his chest. It felt wrong to leave them like this, but there was no other choice.
"I'm sorry uncle, auntie I wish I could have been here sooner." He said.
The crude splint Kacchan had made for his arm itched as a reminder of his failures.
All Might had given him a powerful quirk but with no idea of how to use it. Izuku knew he was just as useless now as when he was quirkless. All Might had chosen the wrong person when he picked Izuku. And at this moment, standing in front of the two people he failed to save, Izuku knew how unworthy he was.
"It doesn't matter now." Kacchan repeated the exact words from earlier. The cruel blunt way he spoke was familiar, but it didn't have the same bite it usually carried. Instead, there was a rasp to his voice, and Izuku was sure if he looked at him now, there would be a fresh set of tears that Kacchan would refuse to let fall.
"Let's go Kacchan." He said.
There was a hesitation in Kacchan's stance as Izuku passed him as if he wanted to move closer to his parents. His fists clenched, jaw locked as if he was two seconds away from yelling.
Izuku almost hoped he would, but he was disappointed when Kacchan turned, his eyes trained on the dust covering the floor.
As they went through the back door and out into the alley behind, they left Kacchan's home. There was a heaviness to Izuku's step that he knew Kacchan felt. This place where Izuku had visited back when he and Kacchan were close. That had once been a second home to Izuku. This place was now tainted by the memories of the first people they ever lost.
Out on the street, it wasn't as loud as yesterday. There was still yelling and fighting he could hear, but it was farther away in the distance, which let them know the Villains had more or less taken over.
They couldn't do anything about it at this point, so they avoided any active areas and steered away from the sounds when they grew closer.
Izuku stayed close to Katsuki; their plans to reach the hospital before it got dark were challenging at the pace they were going. But they decided to see how far they could get before they considered finding shelter.
There weren't any heroes and villains around, but Izuku did see plenty of civilians. Most looked scared, headed in what seemed the same direction as them, but others were raiding the small shops in the area, taking whatever food and supplies they could grab.
No-one stopped them.
As they passed an alley, they heard a female scream farther in, and they paused in their steps. Others nearby listened to the sounds as well, but they all chose to ignore it, heads turned down and away as they continued on their way.
"Don't even think about it Deku." Izuku looked back at his companion, who was staring not at him but the alley; they heard the scream come from. Another scream pierced through, and Kacchan tensed, every muscle coiled up, but his words contradicted what Izuku knew he wanted to do.
"We can't help them, we need to get you to the hospital." Kacchan said.
Izuku knew he was right. There was so much happening now; if they stopped for every distressed cry for help, they were bound to cross paths with someone too strong for them to win against. Not to mention he was injured and unable to do much, which meant Kacchan would have to take the brunt of any attack.
He knew this, so why was his body moving closer to the alley?
"Idiot.." Even pissed, Kacchan didn't stop him but instead followed close behind.
They stopped at the corner of the entrance, the sounds of a scuffle louder, as the girl they heard was struggling against someone. Izuku leaned around the side to get a better idea of what they were dealing with and anything they could do.
"What do you see?" Kacchan leaned into his side, whispering into his ear; Izuku ignored the tickling sensation created at having someone so close and focused on what was happening.
Izuku saw a girl about the same age as them pinned to the ground by a much older man. The girl yelled again, although Izuku noticed more rage than fear. The man, frustrated, struggled to keep her pinned down, his voice a tinge desperate as he pleaded with her.
"Please, stopping fighting, I just want you to be safe, I can give you that. "he said.
The girl didn't respond, but Izuku gaped when she spit in his face instead.
Neither was using a quirk, so Izuku's brain went over different scenarios that could end in their favor.
"It's a girl, looks like some older guy is attacking her, we should be able to handle him without much issue." Izuku muttered to himself; Katuski leaned even closer to hear him. "I'm worried about what type of quirk he may have though."
"Let me handle it." Katsuki straightened up before heading straight into the alleyway without any pretense of hiding his intentions to intervene.
Izuku stood closer to the edge and out of the way to keep an eye out for anyone else that may be with the older man.
"Hey old man, get your grubby paws off the girl before I kill you." Kacchan already had one palm up, small explosions crackling in his palm, his face already lifted in his usual smirk.
This confident, almost threatening nature is what Izuku would prefer to see on Kacchan, though he would rather not be in the line of fire when he was like this.
The other two in the alley paused as if surprised someone had stepped in.
Izuku took note of the wide peridot eyes that stared up at Kacchan. Her face was covered in the dirt and grime from the alley, as her wrists were held together by the larger man.
"Mind your own business kid, this has nothing to do with you." he said, dressed rather well in a pair of slacks and a collared shirt. If it weren't for the glare marring his face along with the apparent scratch marks across his cheek, he'd look like any other average guy on the street.
The man stood up, pulling the girl's wrists up with him until she had to stand up pressed against his side. He was bluffing; Izuku could tell by the subtle way he glanced behind him. This man wouldn't be much trouble to them. Izuku leaned against the wall, less nervous for his friend.
Kacchan, on the other hand, had pulled out his other arm from his pocket as he crouched lower in his stance. His smirk stretched wider across his face at the prospect of a fight as he sent a string of blasts from each of his palms to prove his point.
"Good, I've been itching for a fight all day!"
The man didn't waste any time as he threw the girl forward towards Kacchan and ran down the alley away from them. Kacchan caught her mid drop letting her slide back down to the ground before stepping away as if to follow her attacker.
"Hey you coward get back here so I can kill you!" He shouted.
"Kacchan leave it be." Izuku walked closer and kneeled next to the girl to check on her. Katsuki didn't respond as he put his hands back in his pockets, Izuku was just glad to see some of the life back in his eyes, but he didn't snap back like he would have any other day, just letting out a small tsk in response.
Long dark brunette strands of hair lay in a tangled heap over the girl's face, and Izuku noticed the tear at the front of her shirt where her attacker must have yanked at her clothes. Izuku pulled out the handkerchief Mrs. Saotome had given him, offering it to the girl.
The girl did her best to straighten herself out before taking the offered piece of cloth with a shaky smile. "Thank you."
Kacchan stood over the two, keeping an eye out for anyone else, but he looked down at the girl. "Who was that guy anyways...you know him?"
"Kacchan!" Izuku cried out, indignant that he would even start with that. He wasn't sure what was appropriate to ask in these situations, but something told him that wasn't it. Not that he wasn't curious himself, but only to make sure he wouldn't be coming back looking for her
"I'.. I'm sorry, can be a bit crude...bbut he means well." His face was red; Izuku was sure of it as his cheeks grew hot, no doubt making his freckles stand out against his skin. He did his best to keep his hands at his side, the instinct to hide his face behind his arms growing stronger by the minute.
'He was really talking to a girl!'
Izuku heard the unmistakable growl from Kacchan, probably irritated by his comment, but when he didn't call Izuku out, he figured he was safe. She watched their interactions, a wary look in her gaze as she kept an eye on Kacchan's looming form.
She made to stand up, and Izuku scrambled to do the same, offering his uninjured hand, which she took after a momentary pause.
She directed her answer to Kacchan. Her voice was still shaky, but she didn't show any other signs of distress.
"He was my neighbor." she said.
Izuku tried not to be too obvious, but he noted that she didn't appear injured in any way, which was good, although she kept her shirt closed together with her hand. Izuku pulled one of the lighter hoodies Kacchan had packed for him and offered it to her as cover.
"Shitty neighbor." Kacchan had calmed down by now, shoulders relaxed as he let Izuku know that they weren't in any danger at this point.
"What can I say, the end of the world seems to bring out the best in people." The girl didn't look at either of them when she said that, too busy trying to get the zipper up to cover herself, but Izuku could see the amused smirk on Kacchan's face.
" I'm glad you're okay.." Izuku left it open for her to introduce herself. He had to focus on keeping the stuttering at bay, something Izuku wasn't known for, but he tried.
"My name is Chieko Miyahara." She crossed an arm across her front, which Izuku took to signify how nervous she was, even as she outwardly tried to hide it. "Thank you...you know for saving me."
"It's no trouble at all, my name is Izuku Midoriya." Izuku motioned over to Kacchan, who gave them no more than a nod. "And that's Katsuki Bakugou."
"Were you guys attacked too?" She pointed at Izuku's shattered arm.
"Ummm...Yeah, its not really safe out here." He didn't delve any deeper unwilling to talk about it, and the way Kacchan's lips dipped down told Izuku he wasn't ready either. So he changed the subject instead.
"Were you headed to one of the safety areas?" He asked.
"I guess so, didn't really have anywhere else to go." She tried brushing some of the dirt from her hair, letting it fall over one side of her shoulder. She had a way of avoiding her eyes, never quit looking at either boy directly.
"Do you want to come with us?" Izuku didn't think that through before the question was out there, and once it was, he couldn't take it back.
"HAH" Kacchan's shout made Izuku flinch, but he didn't turn to look back at him.
Chieko noticed the difference in reaction but didn't comment much much to Izuku's relief. "Are you sure that's okay?"
"Ssure, I mean wwe're... in the same direction anyways, it'd be safer in numbers and just in case that guy comes back we can make sure he doesn't bother you." Izuku's ramble turned into mutters as he listed all the benefits of her joining them. He could feel the heated glare Kacchan was giving the back of his head, making him ramble even more.
"Shut up already!" Fed up with him, Katsuki rolled his eyes, but he didn't seem to protest at the offer of her joining anymore, which was good.
"Oh, well yes, Thank you." Chieko's eyes were wide, and Izuku could guess that he had overwhelmed her with his over-explanation, but the next second, her shoulders sagged, giving her first genuine smile at Izuku. Izuku gave in as he looked away, scratching a pretend itch on his face to hide.
Neither noticed that Katsuki had already left them behind until he called out to them from the alley's exit.
"You two idiots coming or what!" He yelled.
Chieko's mouth fell open at the insult, and Izuku chuckled, already used to Kacchan's way of speech. "Don't take it personally, that's just the way he talks."
"Great, I'm stuck with an asshole." She muttered; Izuku heard her but didn't comment as another chuckle escaped him. It was her turn to turn pink, realizing he caught her comment.
"I heard that!" Katsuki's shouted response from farther up ahead made her jump in surprise, and this time Izuku laughed.
As they ran to catch up with Kacchan, he realized it was the first time he had laughed since all this happened.
There was a tinge of guilt that came soon after, but he tried to ignore it.