I'm glad everyone has received the new direction this story is going in with open arms. I was kinda worried that people would be upset with how I'm pacing this new version of the story. But it seems you guys are accepting of it, which is good. It means I'm doing something right.

Before we begin, and before I place the warning, I want to make a couple of things clear right from the get-go. The Twelve Kizuki, right? Yeah, don't even think about them for a good long while. Izuku won't be forming them for YEARS now. Izuku is still a starry-eyed, though a slightly cynical, child who doesn't even know a tenth of his abilities. All he knows about is his bone whips and regeneration. So, to that extent, I want everyone to ignore the fact that the Twelve Kizuki will be around.

Okay? Great! Now, before we begin….

WARNING! THIS STORY CONTAINS SCENES/MENTIONS/IMPLICATIONS OF THE FOLLOWING: CANNIBALISM, EXTREME GORE, BULLYING, ABUSE, BRUTAL DEATH, HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION, AND HEAVY BLOODSHED.

IF ANY OF THESE THINGS BOTHER YOU, TURN BACK NOW!

IF THE WARNING DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU…

THIS STORY IS A FAN-BASED FICTION

I OWN NEITHER MY HERO ACADEMIA NOR DEMON SLAYER/KIMETSU NO YAIBA

ALL I OWN ARE MY OC'S.

[Vol 1 – 2: Humble Beginnings – Part 2]

"And remember students! You have a test on Monday, so make sure you study really hard for it! It will count towards your final mark, so if you want to enter Junior High, you HAVE to get a good mark on the test! Otherwise, have a great weekend!" Mr. Tsukenki, one of the fifth-year teachers, spoke out to the entire class as the day came to an end.

Everyone stood up from their desks and paired up with their friends, chatting about what they were going to do after school and over the weekend. Some of them used their Quirks to pack everything away, while others simply left with all their stuff pre-packed up.

Izuku, for his part, was finishing up writing the notes on the board, a small smile on his face as he did so. The day was pretty good, Bakugo's bullying notwithstanding. Though that was not why he was smiling. No, he had another reason to smile. Last night was… interesting, to say the least.

Let it be known that Izuku, as much as he would like to think so, was not a good cook. He tried to be, but he wasn't. No matter how hard he tried to learn to be a good cook, it just wasn't possible. Granted, any food he did make wasn't inedible, it just wasn't the best that it could be, made worse by the fact that he couldn't taste food. Though his mother said that it was good and that it just needed a little salt, which she promptly added.

He also felt that the studying he did was pretty good. He got through all the material he could within a few hours… and by a few hours, he meant the whole night. But that wasn't the strange part. He had figured out that he didn't have to sleep, as, to him, he felt incredibly energetic the entire night. Sure, when the morning sun came up, he felt a little fatigue, but nothing debilitating. He chalked up to it being something about his Quirk, seeing as anyone his age would've been dead on their feet. Well, unless they had nocturnal Quirks—like Natsumi—so maybe that wasn't a really unique thing to add to his Quirk. But it was intriguing. He'd have to test it out a little more to see if that was the case or if it was just a lucky fluke.

Oh, and he might have put a scratch into the oven when he was using his bone whips to cook, but that was neither here nor there.

As Izuku finished writing up his notes for the test on Monday, and just as he was about to finish packing up, the teacher walked over to him, took a chair from the other desk, and sat in front of him. "Midoriya, I want to ask you a question," Mr. Tsukenki started, fixing his straight black hair and adjusting his thick-framed glasses. This caused Izuku to look up from his backpack, making eye contact with the man, who flinched slightly.

"Yes, Mr. Tsukenki?" Izuku asked, fixing his collar and tie as he did so. The man sighed, crossing his arms as he did so. There was a brief stint of silence between the two, a quizzical expression on the man's face as if he was trying to figure out his own question, before promptly speaking a moment after his face changed to a more neutral expression.

"I already know you are going to ace this test, seeing as you've aced every test so far without fail, and without even a singular wrong question. Even in the courses you're struggling with you ace most things, but I digress. Basically, what I'm saying is that I'm giving you the option to skip out on the test this Monday, and if you do, I'll give you a 100/100. Of course, you can still come in, and I'll still give you the 100/100 marking, I just thought I would approach you so you don't waste your time tomorrow," Mr. Tsukenki said, earning a raised eyebrow from Izuku.

They say there's a first for everything, but this was different. Mr. Tsukenki was known district-wide to be the most strict teacher, period, so for him to just… do that, it was rare. "Are you sure, Mr. Tsukenki? What if the other teachers see me wandering the hallways during class time?" Izuku asked as the man smiled.

"I will tell them what you'll be up to on Monday. But, I want to ask you to do something for me. Something that I… probably should do on my own, but, due to outside circumstances, I can't," the man began, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, geez, why am I even approaching a student about this… crap… whatever. Look, My son, Satoru, he… he's been having trouble fitting in. So, at lunchtime, if you and Nakime-san could please hang out with him for a couple of days, and try and form a friendship with him, I'd be greatly appreciative! He's… he's Quirkless, and I… I really don't want him to become a statistic. I've tried everything in my power to make him feel at home here, but the people around him just keep—"

"I get it, Mr. Tsukenki, I understand," Midoriya interrupted, a giant, toothy smile on his face. "I'll help you, Mr. Tsukenki. I know what it's like to be bullied, but I can only imagine it being worse for Satoru-kun due to his Quirklessness. So I'll help him, okay?" Izuku said, causing the man to tear up. For a split second, the man hugged him, thanking him repeatedly, only to snap out of it and realize what it was he was doing, clearing his throat and rubbing at his eyes.

"A-Ahem, I… okay, that never happened. Thank you, Midoriya, you're now dismissed," Mr. Tsukenki said, getting up from the chair and walking away as fast as he possibly could out of the classroom. Izuku chuckled, shaking his head as he finished putting his stuff away.

Izuku wasn't kidding when he said he'd help out Mr. Tsuneki's son. He couldn't help but agree with the man. He hated the idea of someone taking their own life. In Izuku's mind, suicide was a scourge, a scourge that could never be fully prevented. However, just because it could never be "fully prevented" didn't mean he couldn't help someone who was, by what Mr. Tsuneki had described, going down that path.

The loss of human life always hit the boy differently—he could predict it coming a mile away. He didn't know why that was the case, but he chalked it up to it being a potential passive ability that his Quirk had. Something he had planned to bring up at his doctor's appointment, along with the advanced healing factor and bone whips. Besides, it was about time he had updated his Quirk registry.

As he walked the halls of the school, he could see at least five to ten different people dealing with some sort of mental health struggle. He could sense that at least three of them would take their lives soon. He didn't know how his mind could single them out, but he could. Once again, he chalked it up to his Quirk sensing dying individuals.

Perhaps he should consider being a doctor, instead of a politician? With that sense, he could do anything. Or perhaps, maybe even become a hero? Both of those were distinct possibilities. It was something to ponder over the coming years. After all, he still had four more years to figure out what it was he was going to do.

He stopped by his locker, sighing. He'd have to think about that when he got home, though. His time was better spent there thinking about that kind of stuff than wasting the school's time. As soon as he began turning the knob on his locker, he felt something tap on his forehead. "Ow…" Izuku muttered, rubbing his forehead.

Before he could do or say anything, he felt something wrap around his waist, causing him to go wide-eyed, and for a head to prop itself on his shoulder. His eyes travelled over to the face that the head belonged to, and was met with a sly grin.

"Hey nya there Midori!" Natsumi said as Izuku stumbled back, nearly bumping into someone in the hall, muttering a sorry as the other student looked at him with an annoyed face, then left with their friend, a snicker coming from one of the other students in the hall.

"Oh! Uh… hey there, Nakime-san," Izuku began, the black-haired girl helping the boy up, a small yet cheeky smile on her face as she did so. Izuku dusted himself off, returning to his locker, doing his combination before opening it and retrieving his coat along with his Fedora—he had a coat because it was raining this morning, and he didn't want to get sick because he got too wet. He slipped the coat on over top of his uniform shirt and then turned to look at Natsumi. "So, how was your day?"

The catgirl sighed as Izuku closed his locker and clamped the lock shut. "Same old, same old. Mrs. Takime kept ranting about the MLA again. Honestly, Midori, I'm convinced at least a quarter of the staff are a bunch of MLA sympathizers," Natsumi droned, walking alongside Izuku with her arms behind her head.

Izuku couldn't help but agree. He had noticed that there were times when his Gym Teacher, Atoka Torosama, would go on and on about how only those with strong agility Quirks should be allowed to join the track and field due to their predisposed usefulness in that area. He had thought about joining the track and field team at one point, but quickly changed his mind when he found out that Mr. Torosama was the one leading it. He heard from some of the girls on the girl's track and field team that he was also a bit of a perv, and informed Natsumi about it, seeing as she also had an interest in joining the track team.

The Keyword there being: Had.

"Yeah, I can see that," Izuku said, a small frown on his face. "I thought that the MLA was defunct though, weren't they? Ever since their leader…. Ended their own life to become a martyr, back when the Quirk boom occurred… they went into hiding, right? You'd think they're following would've dwindled to practically nothing," The green and black-haired teen said, raising an eyebrow as Natsumi shook her head, turning around and walking backwards to stare Izuku in the eyes.

"Just because they're Defunct doesn't mean that they don't have supporters, Midori. My step-father being a key example of that," the ravenette said, causing the girl to transform back into a cat to dodge out of the way of someone. She turned back into her normal self when she got beside Izuku, finally exiting the school. "Say, Midori, I wanted to go to the park today. You wanna join me?"

Izuku, much to his own annoyance, couldn't say yes. He had to go to the doctor. His mother, bless her singular heart, was worried about his multiple hearts. He knew that he didn't have any issues, but his mother wanted to make sure. She even explained that it was just a precaution and nothing more. Even still, though, the appointment would last a few hours, unfortunately.

The boy sighed, adjusting his fedora. "I'm sorry, Nakime-san, I can't. My mom's taking me to the doctor's today. She wants to… make sure I'm… Healthy," Izuku said, causing Nakime to stop walking. Izuku stopped a few feet ahead, looking over his shoulder to see Natsumi standing there, hands on her hips as she stared at him, an annoyed expression on her face.

"Uh… Nakime-san?" Izuku asked, getting no verbal response. Instead, Natsumi nodded her head over to a nearby alleyway and began to walk in that direction. Izuku, seeing no reason to not follow her, did so. The two entered the alleyway, alone, causing Izuku to look around with a bit of a timid air around him. "N-Nakime-san, what are we doing here? Wha—" she didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence as she shoved him against the wall, causing him to grunt.

"W-Wha—" Izuku thought, staring deep into her eyes, a small blush on his cheeks. Their faces were a bit too close for his liking, making him recoil to keep some sort of distance.

"N-Nakime-san…?" Izuku said, stuttering as the annoyed expression turned to one of upset, a small frown on the cat-girls face. She backed off, which was good, but that wasn't what his attention was set on. This was the first time in a long time that she had been actively upset at something Izuku had done. The last time she was this annoyed was when he had dropped a bucket of water on her head by accident.

"Why, Midoriya?" Natsumi began, once again causing Izuku to instinctively recoil. There was a hint of betrayal in her voice, for whatever reason she had to feel that way, Izuku didn't know. Once again, this was a first for Natsumi. She never once called him "Midoriya." The only two times she ever called him Midoriya were the first few days that they had begun to talk to one another at the beginning of their friendship. The second time—and as of recent the only real time—she called him Midoriya was when she was mad at him for some reason or another. Seeing as she didn't look so chipper, he had to assume it was the latter.

"Why… what? I don't understand. Y-you never call me "Midoriya" unless you're mad at me…." Izuku said, looking at her with a sheepish expression.

"Because I am mad at you!" Natsumi stated, exasperated, as Izuku flinched again. "Why have you been lying about your Quirk, to me, for three full years, Midoriya?" Nakime asked, causing Izuku's eyes to widen. What did she mean by that? Had she found out? How? How did she find out?

"W-Wha—"

"Don't try to lie to me anymore, I saw them. I saw those… those whips, or whatever they were. I… I watched you from the living room window in my cat form. And… and I saw them. Why, Midoriya? Why did you lie? I can understand lying to Bakugo, but me? Why?" Natsumi asked, causing Izuku to look away with an ashamed expression on his face. He slowly sat down on the ground, one of his bone whips leaking from his back, wrapping around her wrist. She was confused by this, but as it tugged gently on her, she got the message. She sat down beside him, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I…" Izuku started, a small frown on his face as he wrapped his arms around his legs, his red eyes staring at the ground littered with garbage. He had to come up with a believable lie. His real reason was stupid, it was petty, and he didn't want to admit it. He just wanted to humiliate Bakugo, but only when he pushed things too far. So far, Bakugo had yet to do that, but it was getting to that point.

However, now was not the time. Not the time for him to show Bakugo the true extent of his Quirk. He would have to wait for that time, but that was a different story altogether. Right now, his mind was focused on other things. Natsumi-related things, to be exact.

He didn't want her to think less of him, not that she probably already did now that she had found out the lie that he had been feeding her for years now. However, that didn't mean he wanted to make her opinion worse by telling her his true, selfish reasons for hiding his true Quirk.

Finally, after a few seconds of thinking, he came up with his lie, and the best part was that it was believable. He just hoped it would work. "You already know that people treat me like crap, Naki—no—Natsumi…." Izuku said, causing Natsumi's eyes to widen. He used her first name to catch her attention, which seemed to work, so now that he had it, he continued. "My bone whips… they look, villainous, don't they?" Izuku said, unravelling the whip that had been around her wrist, outstretching it, allowing the yellow-cat-eyed kid to fully observe it.

The body of the whip was black, thin like it was connected to a bungee cord. The head of the whip was boney and sharp, and as it hit the other end of the brick wall, it caused small fissure cracks to appear on it. The back of the whip was connected via a boney protrusion that allowed it to shoot out of his back, and from the looks of things, it didn't burst out of his clothing, rather it seamlessly undid the seems of the shirt and stuck out of it like it had been stitched on there.

Natsumi's eyes were glued to the whip, then quickly changed their focus back to Izuku, who was tracing his finger across the ground. The whip returned to his back, the seems of the clothing stitching back together as if nothing happened. "If someone who didn't know me, unlike yourself, saw that…" he chuckled, half-heartedly, looking up to the sky. "they would think me a monster. A demon. A villain. Do you think my ridicule is bad now? Because if you do, then I hate to say it, but I think it would only get worse. I… I only hid it from you because I thought that you would be afraid of me, that you would be scared of me. That I'd lose my only friend…."

That last part, Izuku wasn't lying about. Sure, the rest was a fib, though in some respects he believed his own lie, a deep subconscious fear that he might have been right about it himself, that people would see him as a villain if they saw his true Quirk. The people of his school already feared him and ridiculed him because of his eyes, what would they think of him if they found out his Quirk was more than just that? What if they thought it was evil. His whips were deadly, that much he knew, but what about the other things? The regeneration?

"Should I show her that, as well?" Izuku thought, biting his lower lip. "No… she's already seen enough. I think she gets the point…." Izuku concluded, sighing. "I-I know it sounds stupid… but, that's why I never told you. I thought that I'd scare you away… that you'd hate me, or fear me, just like everyone else does. The only person who knows the fullest extent of my Quirk is my mother, my father, and my doctor…." Izuku said, finally deciding to look over at Natsumi. What he saw was something he never thought he'd see.

What he saw, was a teary-eyed Natsumi, which confused him. "Natsumi…?" Izuku said, caution in his voice. Without any warning, without any sort of choreographing, Natsumi hugged him, full-on, straight-up, no joking nonsense, hugged him. She simply hugged him. And she was crying, too, which was even more confusing.

"Natsumi, what's wrong?" Izuku said, slowly wrapping his arms around the now sobbing Natsumi. He still didn't know why she was crying as she was. She had no reason to, right? So why cry? "I… I don't get it, why are you crying?"

"You dummy!" She began, choking back a sob. "Do you really think that I would stop being friends with you just because of some stupid ropes with points?" Natsumi said, pulling back, looking away, and for a split second, he could see… regret in her eyes. "I didn't know you had such little faith in me, Midori…."

Now it was Izuku's turn to be astonished. What on Earth was she on about? "Little faith…" Izuku mulled over his thoughts, his eyes darting from side to side. Trying to think of something to respond with.

"Little faith? I… I don't, though! I was just… I was scared at what you'd think!" Izuku said, no longer holding back his own tears as they fell freely from his cheeks. "I… I didn't want to lose my only friend because she might think of me as a scary villain, okay?! Is that so hard to understand!" Izuku snapped, causing Natsumi to recoil. Izuku looked away, realizing he messed up.

He took a subconscious step back, looking at the fright in her eyes, just as he feared. "She thinks I'm scary… I was right…." Izuku thought, wiping away the tears in his eyes and on his cheeks. He looked down at the floor and made up his mind right then and there. "I'm… I'm going to go, I'm, I'm sorry…." Izuku stated, running out of the alleyway, leaving behind a confused, scared, and upset Natsumi.

For a split second, she stood there, dumbfounded. Small droplets of water began to fall from the sky. It was going to rain soon. She couldn't be out in the rain, otherwise, she'd catch a cold, so she had to hurry up and follow him so that she could apologize.

She chased after the boy, exiting the alleyway and followed him through a crowd of people, the small droplets of rain getting faster, her time slowly running out. Once she got close, she attempted to reach out to him.

"W-Wait! Midori!" the black-haired, yellow-eyed girl called out, reaching out to him, just barely missing the back of his collar. Several whips came out of his back, stabbing into the ground as he jumped up, high atop one of a building nearby, vanishing out of sight.

But Natsumi was not one to easily give up.

She transformed into her usual black cat disguise. She jumped on top of a fire hydrant, then jumped up to a street light, then to a roof just a foot away from that, trying to scan out the area, only to find nothing.

He was gone, out of her sight. As she transformed into her human form, atop one of the many rooftops of Musutafu City, the rain began to fall down faster. As it did, some of the water trailed down on her face, mixing in with the tears that began to free-fall down her cheeks. "MIDORIYA!"

But he didn't hear her, wherever he ran off to, it was far enough away from him to not hear her. She broke down crying, falling to her knees on the rooftop, her screaming of his name turned into sobs. In the back of her mind, she truly believed that she lost a friend that day, and because of that, it made her crying worse. A few passersby found her atop the roof and called a hero to get her down, thinking she was going to take her own life. All the while this happened, she could only think about Izuku and what she had said to make him react like that.

"Stupid… stupid Midori… why? What was it I said? I just want to know."

But her question would go unanswered, and the rain poured down harder.

-To Be Continued-