Haha What if added a pinch of sadness to my OC.
oh. Woops.
Kaina Tsutsumi. Quirk: Rifle.
She was nothing in particular to Nao. But Himiko and Nao were getting closer every day to their goals. Retirement. A long life somewhere out by the sea. Thinking of this didn't matter to Nao, but as soon as she added Himiko to the picture the Dokikois were complete and Nao felt something warm in her chest.
Something tight in her throat.
But that was always there, so did it even matter? It couldn't.
Nao rose from her bed, hidden deep within the bunker. Some old WWII Submarine dock, hidden in a mountain side. It hadn't taken much to make it fit their needs, as the Japanese had needed prisoners a plenty for their camps. Human experiments were hard work, presumably.
Nao pulled down the covers off her still sleepy body, yawning as she stretched her arms and rose to get to work. Dozen of pains wracked her body, limps, lost arms, old untreated bullet wounds, scrapes and bruises each melding into a barely comprehensible slush of agony. Nao ignored it handily.
Armor, gun, knives, grenades. Each one slipped on with practiced ease and soon she was brushing her teeth. She stretched in the mirror, loosening up and making sure her body armor was on tightly enough.
Nao hadn't yet been told the plan for the capture of the second kid, but apparently grabbing the first was part of it. Kotone Shiomi, Quirk: Manifest. Nao didn't see what was so important about it, it didn't seem to be any different from any other quirk. But the Boss was interested, and he had money.
Enough money, even.
Soon Nao and Himiko would be relaxing in the Bahamas.
She reached up, grabbing her shoulder to roll out an odd bubble which had lodged itself there, only to realize that it had been someone else's.
A bullet was lodged there, in someone else's shoulder. Actually, thinking on it, she recognized this one. Some gruff old man Himiko'd grabbed. War vet. Nao had told him to get it removed, but it obviously wasn't.
How odd.
Nao had gathered he had some kind of interest in keeping it there. Sentimental. But he was limiting his shoulders' range of motion. And it hurt.
"People are so strange."
Himiko, only now getting up, snorted, "You say that alot." Nao stood at attention, hearing her voice, and watched in the mirror as the woman came up behind her to lean over her shoulder, plant a soft kiss on her cheek. An unfeeling blush, throat twisting to block her voice.
Nao melted into Himiko's hand, pushing back into her. Her everywhere hurt. Hundreds of tiny aches assailed her from the mercenaries to the prisoners to Himiko. Broken shoulder, pancreatic cancer, infected bloats, untreated burns, scrapes and more. Himiko didn't make it better, but while they were touching, Nao could feel more than just pain, she tilted her head back, pecking Himiko, promoting her with unspoken urging, a desperation buried within her begging all the while.
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it!
Himiko smiled, and Nao saw the way her eyes creased softly like a parent finally giving into their child's wants. Nao's eyes widened, her drowsiness disappeared and she felt the precipice of a great chasm.
She dove in.
Love. Joy. Anxiety. Exploration. Dogs wagging tails and trying chocolate for the first time. In this moment, Nao was somewhere else. Somewhere far away. Somewhere alone. Drinking a cool smoothie in a cafe while reading a book. Engaging in menial work, hands busy with some inane task while her mind worked away at a more complex problem. Swans, gifting her a revered purity she desperately needed as she danced her way across their lake.
Nao reveled, slumping into Himiko's hands. This was love.
Nao used to be able to feel on her own. But then one day she couldn't.
(Why?)
She couldn't. Just couldn't. Himiko was just… dredging up the old. Reminding Nao what it had felt like.
It was wonderful.
Himiko pulled away, and Nao fell to the ground, legs shaking from foreign sensation.
Himiko came to the door, reaching into the coat hanging and pulling off the old beret she wore over her auburn hair. "Dear, I'll be meeting with that mercenary later, the one who survived, remember?" She turned to look at Nao, "I want you to be there, alright?"
Nao nodded, chest stuttering as she grasped at breath. She had on many occasions felt the pain of another person having trouble breathing, so she knew it was supposed to be. She didn't feel anything except the many pains of others.
Stomach ache, scratchy throat, fractured pelvis, trouble breathing.
She couldn't place why, but she focused her mind on that. Lungs bursting, chest burning, throat tight tight tight.
The feeling of choking, slowly dying, was nothing to her. But she wanted it anyways.
Nao couldn't feel this pain without her quirk. Couldn't feel anything without Himiko.
Himiko.
Himiko wanted her to get up. Get to work.
Nao rose partially, catching her face in the mirror. Same purple and black hair, same hard features, same scars trailing her skin in half-forgotten stories. The tears were new. She wiped them away, as they served no particular function. Usually she'd keep them, they were helpful when convincing people to do things for her, but they were in the compound, where everyone did what Himiko asked anyways.
Up on her feet now, Nao started the coffee machine. She was capable of habit as much as addiction, and Nao could admit her addiction to caffeine was prevalent. Two cups, she grabbed both, and headed out the door.
The rest of the bunker wasn't nearly so furnished. Compared to the soft carpet and wood paneled furniture of Himiko's room, the rest of the bunker mostly had only what it needed, with a few exceptions for places that were already furnished by the previous inhabitants.
Dark, dirty and damp walls worn from the lack of care. Nobody cleaned and nobody took care of the various file drawers scattered around. Some of them were even a little older than the war the bunker was made for, and had given out in this way or that. Getting rid of them would take additional excursions outside the bunker, though, which meant potential breaches of security. So they left them.
Himiko had headed to the infirmary to meet Itsuka, who had had a snapped tendon in his left leg, ruptured liver and large intestine and a small scrape on his left elbow. They had a few mercs with healing quirks, though, so he was able to come through. It took a while, but there was no point in wasting an asset when everyone was under Himiko's quirk anyways.
The infirmary door was open, and Nao slipped through it quietly, not alerting anyone as she stood at attention in the corner, holding both cups patiently. Himiko was by one of the four beds they had, where Ikaru was.
"Do you think I'm pretty?" She asked, hand settling softly on the man's thigh, trailing upwards along his pants, "Do you?"
The man, eyes flitting between Himiko and Nao, paled oddly, nodding jerkily.
"That's good" She said, and Nao silently agreed. He was correct, and this made it almost certain that Himiko's quirk would work just fine. It was important that they get Ikaru, his quirk was useful.
"Just one more question…" She said, and Nao figured she was probably in a hurry, she'd usually bury the lead a little more. Himiko smiled, bring a hand up to cup Ikaru's cheek, "* * * *?"
"Yes."
And like that, it was over. Anticlimactic, but efficient. Just the way Nao liked it, she had no clue why Himiko so typically insisted on making such a show of it. Anticlimactic was simple. Nothing to decipher about silly people and their strange behavior, just a thing and doing it as quickly as possible.
Ikaru stiffened, and Himiko went through the same things she always did, giving general orders about his responsibilities.
"That's over then," Himiko rose from the bed, and slipped around to Nao, hugging her. Nao's eyes widened, pupils constricting and throat tight like bile rising from her stomach had gripped it.
Do it, do it, do it, do-
Himiko's arms fell away, backing up a step and grabbing one of the cups of coffee, "So, I'll be gone most of the day. You remember what to do, right?"
Nao nodded, frowning, "I need to talk to the new one, Kaina." She took a sip of the coffee, grateful that Himiko had finally grabbed one, she didn't like when Nao drank first because Nao wasn't supposed to speak when Himiko was choosing and that made it difficult for Himiko to choose the one that Nao hadn't touched, "Why do you have to leave again?"
"I just need to do some official paperwork. Just things to make sure we fly below the radar." Himiko replied, she tipped her head back, drinking the whole cup in one go. Nao wondered why she would do that, she could feel the scald cover her throat. Himiko handed the empty cup back to Nao, "Don't worry, I'll just get that one to heal me on my way out."
Ah, it was for efficiency. Nao commended Himiko mentally, "Same as always?"
"Same as always." Himiko confirmed, "No special treatment, even for some future pet assassin." Himiko walked out the infirmary and Nao followed, always keeping herself just a step behind, "I have to go now, I'll get my bag on the way out. Now shoo," She said playfully, leaning around as she walked to make the associated motion.
Nao nodded. She turned, walking back towards the holding cells. They had quite a few of them, around a hundred had been built into the underground to house war prisoners. They had all sorts of pain. The one she was focusing on though, the girl, had nothing more than a scraped knee and a chipped nail. Nothing serious, barely even noticeable beneath the severed fingers and infectious bloating that were common among their prisoners.
She passed a few holding cells, feeling the glare from each prisoner she passed bore into her side, felt the way they shifted by the pains that covered them. Some to weapons they no longer had, some towards her and some backing away, ragged clothes scraping against the stone floors. It was always odd to her, were they trying to challenge her to a fight? Was that the intention of the glaring? Or was it part of their quirk maybe? Were they trying to kill her?
It didn't make sense. In the first case she'd already won their fight. They got captured, that's why they were here. In the second, wouldn't it have made more sense to do that earlier?
One of them rapped on their bars, and Nao, obligingly turned to address them, "Jilao-san. Fibromyalgia. Oblique fracture in the left femur. Early signs of Muscular Dystrophy." Moments like these bothered Nao. She didn't understand why she stared at the man. Not why she bothered to give him pain killers. Not why she diagnosed him. Not why she didn't tell Himiko.
Himiko didn't like it when Nao paid too much attention to other people, injured prisoners included. But something about this, the way she'd occasionally give something to the Prisoners who needed it, tickled something. Something she knew she was missing.
"Your fracture is healing well. Try to move your arms more to prevent muscular deterioration." She said. The man didn't reply. He never did. Just stared at her, same as every other prisoner she did this with, with soft eyes, looking down at her like they knew something she didn't, "I'll bring some pain killers later."
He didn't reply.
"Oh. And try to do some math in your head. Fibromyalgia can cause brain fog." Nao had gotten her doctorate years ago, but she still remembered everything. Himiko had wanted someone who could diagnose problems easily. It was an online degree, as Himiko didn't want Nao to go in person. She didn't like Nao being fo far from her, or too far from the bunker, for too long.
The man shifted away from the bars, sitting against the wall of the cell, eyes still on her, glaring and soft. Some odd emotion she didn't recognize.
Nao turned, now finished telling the man what he needed to know, made her way over to the last cell on the block.
The girl was tired. Eyes barely staying open through sheer force of will. Nao greeted her, "Scraped knee. Chipped nail. You've stayed up too long so your bones are starting to deteriorate." She reached to her side, pulling a set of old iron keys off her hip and slipping them into the lock, "Try to drink extra milk." Nao told her, not sure why. They didn't give anyone extra rations, let alone milk. Perhaps it was simply a sense of professionalism guiding her.
She looked across the many cells, her eyes lingering on each one she had even once brought something more than she was supposed to.
Yes. Professionalism makes perfect sense, she was a professionally trained doctor, after all.
The door opened, and Nao prepared for the regular escape attempt. The girl leap, swinging her arm towards Nao.
It was over in an instant.
The girl squirmed under Nao's knee. Her quirked hand bashing against Nao time and time again. But there was something odd, Nao hadn't noticed it before but…
"Your hand. It's hurt." A long gash cut through the metallic hand, having already finished seeping blood, but… "I don't feel it."
Nao felt every pain that others did. Man or woman, young or old, she could even feel the insensate. Lobotomized patients at the hostel she'd briefly worked for felt the same pain others did, even if they didn't really notice it. If someone was feeling it, so too was Nao.
But there was a loophole to that, wasn't there?
"You don't feel it." She said, poking the gash. Nothing. Not even the smallest pain.
The girl froze, staring at Nao, mouth still as she seemed unsure what to say, how to react, "N-no."
Nao nodded. She hadn't needed confirmation, really. She was quite confident, but reacting often put people at ease, so she nodded, accepting the girls words, "Get up." She said, bring her knee off the girls chest.
"Where are we going?" She asked, rising to her feet in slow movements, her eyes never leaving Nao.
"Around." Nao said. Himiko had her do this with every prisoner. Take them around the cell block, usually in complete silence. Nao never felt the need to break it, and typically neither did her prisoner. Himiko had called it 'breaking them in'.
"Around? That-" the girl shouted, she glared at Nao, "that doesn't help at all!"
Nao thought for a moment. She wasn't really certain what kind of help the girl even wanted. Maybe she wanted navigational directions? Himiko got mad the last time Nao gave those out, though.
…
Nao reached up, hand ghosting over her throat, the slightest sensation. There was a dull sting beneath her armor, ever present across her body. Still there.
Her throat was tight.
"Around."
The girl huffed, and turned to look at the cell they were passing. She froze, staring within.
Ah. This, atleast was something Nao understood. "Agase Kurowa. Fractured tibia. Patella displaced by infectious growth, extreme muscular deterioration. Requires mild exercise, better sleep schedule, lots of milk and white meats." Cannibalism came with complications aglow with quirks, but it seemed to calm the captives to know that in any event, there were others more injured than them, so they wouldn't be first to go.
The girl didn't say anything. Nao's plan had worked, same as always. They stopped at every cell, and at every cell, Nao explained the extent of the captives' pains. They were mostly silent, and Nao felt no need to change that.
When they reached the girls cell again, she finally met Nao's eyes, "Why did you guys take me?"
"They wanted an assassin."
"An assassin?"
"Yes." Nao confirmed the silly question. She had already mentioned the answer, did the girl think Nao had lied?
"Why?" The girl asked, her eyes squinting to block out tears Nao could tell were coming by the phantom pain that gripped her throat, familiar, like the tone of church bells.
Nao shrugged, "He needed one." Probably. If nothing else it was a reasonable explanation.
In the distance of the compound, there was scream, and silence.
Nao didn't even close the cell.
A/N: I fucking love Case Closed. Just watched The Time Bombed Tower and one of my favorite parts of it is the romance between Shinichi and Ran. They're very wholesome. No hyper dramatized interaction, no romanticized abuse. Just two people who think about kissing eachother alot but are too scared to say it.
And then there's Shiho. Who also has a rad dynamic with Shinichi. She's the only person he can be unabashedly himself with. No secrets, no nonsense, she knows, and he knows, and through that they can feel somewhat safe together.
Hope I got what I wanted to across with Naos character, but tbh I was hardly subtle.
