Izumi

"Stop it, Kacchan!"

I stood between my friend and the boy he'd been bullying, wishing the shaking all but tearing through me would stop. Standing up to him was scary enough without that.

His friends laughed, pointing and jeering. "Aw, look at her. She's so scared, she'll probably pee herself before too long!"

Once upon a time, Kacchan would have gotten angry at someone for saying that to me. A month ago, he would have jumped in, all fire and blazing eyes while threatening anyone who tried to hurt me.

That was before, now was…different.

He sneered, miniature explosions gathering in his palm as he lashed out toward me. "Don't try to be a hero, you're just a quirkless piece of trash. A pebble in my way!"

I didn't dodge in time and pain bloomed along my cheek, tears blurring my vision next as I stumbled back, desperately needing space between me and the cruel stranger who'd taken Kacchan's place over the last month.

The boy I'd helped ran without looking back and Kacchan glared after him, eyes all but sparking with the same explosive force as his power. Once he was out of sight, that gaze dropped to me again and I crawled away, cradling the new burn on my jaw.

He didn't let me get far, his hand lashing out with another round of explosions. "You'll never be a hero, not like me!" The shrill words dug in like needles and I ducked, trying to hide most of my face.

Why did I have to be born without a quirk? Everything would be the same as it was if I'd gotten one, even Mom's! Kacchan would still be my friend, I wouldn't have to run from him every day…

It wasn't fair!

Curling tighter into myself, I waited for another round of pain. Only, it didn't come.

Instead, Kacchan's voice cracked out with…fear.

"What the hell?!"

When nothing happened after a second, I slowly cracked an eye open. Kacchan stood in front of me, his hand hovering between us. He stared at it, his face a mix of angry and terrified as he waved it forcibly through the air.

"Why isn't it working?!"

His quirk wasn't working?

Immediately, concern ballooned out, eclipsing my fear and pain. I'd never heard about someone's quirk suddenly disappearing before. Was something wrong with Kacchan?

His eyes widened, fear I'd never seen before glowing off him as he turned to me and spat. "What did you do? Are you contagious or something?!"

His friends backed away as if I were diseased and he warily retreated too. A pang of hurt cut through me before I shook my head.

"No, I don't know what's happening!"

He balled his fist and pulled it back, "You have to be the one who did this, you quirkless freak!"

Before he could let the punch fly, an unfamiliar voice cut in. "It wasn't her, you rabid pomeranian. It was me."

Kacchan stepped back, allowing me to see the form hovering on the edge of the clearing.

It was a girl around our age, her dark hair cut roughly at her ears in a jagged line, and her eyes…

Her eyes were glowing red.

She was erasing Kacchan's quirk.

Fascination burned to the surface under my fear and thousands of questions pushed their way to the front. How did that work? Could she use it on more than one person at a time?

That would be amazing for hostage situations or hero work! She was so lucky.

Kacchan turned, forcing me back to the present as he bared his teeth.

"I'm not a fruit, you stupid brat! Whatever you're doing, quit it, before I kill you!"

She raised a brow, clearly unimpressed. "Pomeranian isn't a fruit, idiot. It's a dog. And for someone spouting off about being number one hero, you sure talk about killing a lot. Are you sure you're not trying to be a villain?"

Kacchan's fists shook, sweat trailing down them in lines but not igniting, as he clearly wanted it to.

"Shut up and give me my quirk back!" His tone shook just a tiny bit and the girl scoffed.

"Why should I? You were just hurting her for being quirkless. Maybe you don't deserve to have a quirk if that's how you treat people who don't have one."

Kacchan lunged toward her, fist raised with a scream. "I'll force you if you won't do it on your own!"

She sidestepped him and struck, fist colliding with Kacchan's jaw. "If you want your quirk back, then walk away. I hate bullies and I won't let you hurt her again."

Kacchan stumbled, cradling his cheek now as he eyed her warily. His friends stayed back, clearly afraid of what she could do, and when he noticed that he scoffed.

"You're all nothing but extras, you aren't worth my time."

He stormed off, his cronies following behind. Once they were gone, I faced the girl and swallowed my tears.

"Thanks."

She walked over and shrugged, offering a hand down to me as her eyes faded from red to black.

"It's like I said, I don't like bullies. Are you okay? That looks pretty bad."

I nodded, ignoring the sting lancing through my cheek. "I'll be okay. You should be careful though, Kacchan will be really mad with you now. If he thinks you're friends with me, it'll only make it worse."

She helped me up and brushed the dirt off my back with a shrug. "I don't care. He's not scary…not really."

Her eyes drifted to the side as if she were staring at something only she could see. Something shifted in the air and I nudged her, not liking the sudden heaviness.

"Your quirk is really cool, you could use it to help hundreds-no, thousands of people!"

She flushed and shifted between her feet. "I don't think it's that great, I can only use it on one person at a time. Besides," She looked away and frowned, "Mom doesn't like it when I use it. She gets…really upset."

Something about how she said it made my skin crawl. She almost seemed afraid, but I had to be wrong. That was her Mom.

There was nothing to be scared of, right?

Putting that aside, I took her hand and pulled toward my house. "Well, I think it's really cool."

Biting my lip, I looked down and asked. "If you really don't mind Kacchan, I'd like it if we could be friends. Do you want to play heroes? I have a lot of figurines we can play with, if you promise to be careful with them."

She hesitated for a second before slowly nodding. "I'd like that." Then she offered a hand. "I'm Akane. What's your name?"

I took it and shook how Mom showed me. "I'm Izumi, come on. My house isn't that far!"

Mom would probably be worried about the burn though…

Running my hand over it, I led the way down the road and asked. "Hey, can you not tell my Mom about this?"

Akane frowned and raised a brow. "Do you think she won't notice a burn on your face?"

Well, when she put it like that…

"Maybe we could just not say who did it? Kacchan is my friend. I don't want to get him in trouble."

It would only make his sudden anger worse and if I wanted to have my friend back, I couldn't tell Mom.

She grimaced and shook her head. "I don't like this. If he's willing to hurt you and be mean to people, are you sure he's a good friend?"

I bit my lip and looked away. "I know he's mean now, but maybe he'll go back to being my friend soon. Please, just don't tell Mom?"

For a second, I thought she'd refuse, but after a long minute, she nodded with a sigh.

"Fine, but I'm not going to let him hurt you." She took my hand and smiled. "That's what friends do, right?"

I beamed and nodded. "Right! Let's go home, I have so many All Might action figures to show you."

I grabbed her hand and ran, Akane following without complaint despite the speed. Excitement bubbled through me and I didn't bother tamping it down.

After Kacchan changed, I wasn't sure I'd ever have a friend again. If he could turn against me like that without warning, anyone could.

But maybe he'd go back to being MY Kacchan soon. In the meantime, I'd made another friend and I couldn't wait to show her all my All Might stuff.

I've cross posted this on a few websites, but we'll see how it does. Hope y'all enjoyed it, writing this is going to be a lot of fun.