Two days had passed since the attack at the training camp and Midoriya had yet to see Kendo. After the attack all the students were sent to the hospital to be checked out. While not all were caught in Mustard's gas, those that were, were kept at the hospital for further testing and monitoring for any side effects.

It wasn't until the morning after that Midoriya heard back from Kendo. He immediately dropped everything so that he could go check on her, but she was quick to stop him. The hospital had given the students restricted visitation for the first day, only immediate family and teachers could visit.

While Midoriya was upset he couldn't go check on her, he was glad to know that she was alive. The rest of that day she kept him updated as to what was going on and what she was being told. Thankfully once all the preliminary testing was completed she was told that friends would be able to visit, within reason. Knowing that he would be able to visit her soon took a weight off his shoulders allowing him to keep his focus for the day.

It was on the second day that Midoriya was told that he was able to visit. This time when he dropped everything he made his way straight to the station. It took him less than two hours to make it to the hospital, but to him it felt like days. Even though he was excited to see her, waves of guilt began to crush him as he approached her room. Each step he took felt heavier and heavier as his conscience bored down on him.

He was the one that put Kendo in the hospital.

Midoriya came to a stop in front of Kendo's room. His hand had reached out for the door, but it refused to open in. He wanted to see her, he needed to see her, but he didn't know what to do or say.

Normally he would just put on a smile and tell people what they wanted to hear to stay on their good side. Lying and tricking people had become second nature to him. But for the first time since he had been adopted he didn't have a mask to put on.

Before he was able to form any sort of plan, the door to her room swung open. Standing in front of him was All Might. The Symbol of Peace was just a few inches away from him and behind him was Kendo, sitting in her hospital bed.

Midoriya's mind went blank. All his worries disappeared as their eyes met. Her teal eyes were something he always looked forward to, he always got lost in them. Her long orange hair wasn't in its usual side ponytail, it was down in all its natural beauty. The two of them didn't say a word, they just stared in silence.

The clearing of a throat caused the two of them to look towards All Might. "Wow, it's not often that I'm the person who gets ignored in a room. That was actually kind of refreshing."

The two teens looked at All Might completely shocked at what he had just said.

"Well I still have a few more people to visit so I'll be on my way. Once again, thank you for everything you did Miss Kendo."

Kendo nodded as she gave him a smile. "It's no trouble at all, All Might."

With that, All Might left, leaving Midoriya standing in the doorway completely still. His eyes refused to come off of Kendo. As he stood there silently he heard a soft laugh come from her. "Yes I'm really here Izuku, now come on in."

Midoriya made his way next to her bed and sat in the chair that had been pulled up. His eyes were still locked on her, but he couldn't find the words to say. After All Might left all the weight of his actions came back and this time they came with a vengeance. His eyes fell to the floor as only a few words were able to escape.

"I'm so sorry, Itsuka."

He felt her hand gently rest on top of his. It was subtle, but he could feel it gently trembling.

"Why are you apologizing, Izuku? If anything I should apologize for worrying you."

As much as she wanted to sound as cool, calm, and collected as usual, she couldn't. The slight tremble in her hand sold her out.

"You shouldn't have had to go through all that."

Kendo gripped his hand tightly. "Izuku, look at me."

Slowly he raised his head to see that determined look on her face. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she stared into his. "I'm going to be a hero, this may be the first time I'm in a hospital, but I promise you it won't be the last. I'm going to be put in dangerous situations and this is just part of the job. That being said, I don't plan on making this a regular occurrence."

Midoriya laughed a little as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "You're right. I know you're right."

Kendo smiled as she rubbed her thumbs on the back of his hand. "Good, now since that's out of the way don't you have something to say?"

Midoriya nodded. The crushing weight he felt had lightened allowing him to think rationally again. Even though Kendo didn't know it, she had cleared his mind, helping him find his mask.

"Why was All Might in here?"

Kendo teasingly punched his arm before pouting. "Not that question you ass."

Midoriya laughed before taking a deep breath. "How are you feeling Itsuka?"

She smiled as she leaned back in her bed. "I feel fine. Just like yesterday I feel perfectly normal, but I understand why they want me to stay. I was where the gas was the densest, it only makes sense that they'd want to make sure everything comes back normal."

Midoriya nodded as he continued to run his thumb on the back of her hand. "That's good to hear. How's everyone else?"

"Practically everyone is shaken up, but that's to be expected after something like this. There's no serious injuries to the students, but a couple are still unconscious due to the gas villains quirk. The doctor said they should wake up in the next day or so. So that's good to hear."

Kendo did her best to force a smile. "Itsuka…"

Kendo gripped Midoriya's hand tightly before staring out the window with a sigh. "I'm sure you've heard already, but Monama… he's gone… they took him. The villains took him."

It was subtle, but Midoriya could hear her voice begin to tremble with each word she said.

"You know it doesn't feel real. I tried to scare him into behaving by saying that the villains would target him… and you then they actually did. All last night I kept pinching myself hoping that I'd wake up and all this would be a bad dream, but I never woke up."

A tear began to fall down Kendo's cheek as she stared out the window.

"I… I never thought it would actually happen, Izuku. Sure he was a pain in the ass, but I never wanted something like this to happen. He's… he's my friend… Izuku-"

Midoriya climbed into the hospital bed as he pulled Kendo into his arms. She buried her face into his chest as the dam broke. All the emotions she had been feeling the past day had been freed.

All Midoriya could do was attempt to comfort her as she cried. Seeing Kendo like this broke his heart. He hated that she was in pain and he hated himself for causing it.

Midoriya continued to hold Kendo until she had calmed down again, the entire time he refused to let go of her. When she finally got it all out of her system she looked up at Midoriya with puffy eyes and the best smile she could muster. Without hesitating Midoriya kissed her forehead. Kendo's smile turned genuine as she leaned back into him.

"Izuku, can we stay like this for now?"

Midoriya ran a hand through her hair. "Of course."

The two of them continued to sit in silence for a few more minutes before Kendo let out a deep sigh. "So how was it meeting All Might? You didn't exactly make the best first impression."

Midoriya laughed as he took Kendo's hand. "You know, I expected him to be more intimidating, but he sort of felt like just a normal guy. You know minus the freakishly large body."

Kendo laughed as well as interlocked their fingers. "I know what you mean. He's really easy to talk to."

"Speaking of talking, what were you two talking about before I got here?"

Kendo looked at Midoriya with a conflicted expression. Seeing her like this confused Midoriya.

"Is everything ok, Itsuka?"

Kendo looked towards the door before looking into Midoriya's eyes. "Izuku, I'm gonna tell you something, but you can't repeat it to anyone. I'm serious, it can't leave this room at all."

Midoriya raised an eye with intrigue. It was rare that he got to see Kendo act like this. "Of course… you can trust me."

Kendo squeezed Midoriya's hand before looking at the door one last time. With a deep breath she looked into his eyes again. "So before you got here today, I was walking around trying to see something besides the same room. Well, as I was walking I decided to visit Yaoyorozu. When I got to her room she was talking with All Might and someone with the police. I knew I shouldn't have been listening, but I couldn't stop once I heard mention of a tracker."

Midoriya's eyes widened. "A tracker… like something that locates people? That kind of tracker?"

Kendo nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to hear what all they had to say, but a nurse came by and asked me why I was out of my room. This happened to draw all the attention in the room to me which was extremely embarrassing. All Might then walked me back to my room to make sure I made it safely. And once we got back he asked what all I had heard and I told him everything. I don't know why, but he then told me everything that Yaoyorozu had done. Her and Awase had welded a tracker to the Nomu that took Ragdoll."

Everything stopped for Midoriya as he heard that. The night of the attack replayed through his head rapidly as he tried to recall seeing anything resembling a tracker.

Nomu's back.

After Midoriya had reunited with everyone he had seen something weird on Nomu's back. Panic began to sink in as the idea of a fight between All Might and All for One played in his head. While the confrontation would be welcomed by Midoriya, it couldn't have come at a worse time. Midoriya had one more day until he got the information he needed. He needed to let All for One know. Nomu was already a lost cause with the tracker, but he needed All for One to get away.

Midoriya tried to get up but Kendo held onto his arm keeping him in place. Midoriya looked at her confused, but her gaze didn't falter. She was not letting him get up.

"Izuku, I need you here right now. There's a lot going on and a lot I want to talk to you about. Please will you just stay with me for the day. No one else, just me and you."

Midoriya let out a deep breath as he relaxed back into the bed. As much as wanted to pass on the word, he couldn't tell her he needed to make a call. If he had said that right after everything she had told him, he'd look extremely suspicious. Even with his doubts, he pushed the idea of the tracker out of his head. It was one day, and there was no way the Hero's would be able to put everything together in under a day. All Midoriya needed to do was make sure he got the information and then to get away from them as fast as he could.

The two of them sat in silence, Kendo had latched herself to Midoriya's arm. Her hand had a death grip on his. All he could do for her was be her support. He gently rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand to reassure her that he was with her.

"Izuku, I'm scared."

"It's alright, I'm here with you."

"That's why I'm scared."

Izuku raised an eye at her in confusion. "You're scared of me?"

Kendo tightened her grip. "I'm not scared of you, it's more of what you do. Ever since the beach I've found myself second guessing myself about you. I actually talked to Ms. Midnight before the training camp about it. She said I needed to tell you about how I was feeling."

Midoriya's hand tensed up. The reaction didn't go unnoticed by Kendo. She gently squeezed his hand back as she leaned into him more.

"I understand if you're mad or upset, but will you please at least hear me out first?"

Midoriya let out a deep sight before nodding. "Of course."

Kendo took a deep breath before moving to sit in front of Midoriya. She took his hands into hers and stared into his eyes.

"Izuku, you terrify me. I don't mean that I find you scary or anything, but what you're apart of makes me worried and that terrifies me. When we were at the beach I found out a whole different side of you and I didn't know how to process it at that moment. But then as time went on more and more questions came up and I had less and less answers. This person I knew, this person I loved had a darkness that completely blindsided me."

Kendo's grip on his hands tightened as she did her best to keep her composure.

"I've had so many questions running through my head the past couple of weeks and I didn't know what to do. I wanted answers, but I didn't know how to ask them. Hell, I didn't even know if I could ask them."

Kendo took another deep breath before staring into his eyes.

"That's what I mean when I say I'm scared of you. I'm scared of the unknown. I'm scared of one day waking up and seeing you on the news. I'm scared of waking up and one day you're gone forever."

Midoriya couldn't bring himself to look Kendo in the eyes. Everything she had said was completely rational and he understood why she felt this way, but he didn't know what he could do. He had a goal that was within reach and he wasn't going to let it go at this point.

"Would it be better if he just broke up?"

Kendo's eyes widened as her jaw dropped. "Are you serious!?"

Midoriya kept his eyes down. "I am. I'm certain at some point my past will get out there at some point. Just think what could happen to your career if they find out you're with an ex Yakuza member. People will lose their faith in you."

"You're not wrong, that could happen."

Midoriya closed his eyes as he sighed. "So I guess this is it then?"

"No."

Midoriya's eyes opened, but they refused to look up.

"What?"

"I said no."

"But you agreed with me?"

"You're right I do, but I knew that was a possibility back at the beach."

Midoriya gritted his teeth. "Then why are you saying no?"

Kendo sighed as she squeezed his hands. "Izuku, if you want to break up, that's your decision and I can't stop it. But if that's what you really want I'm gonna need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that's what you want to do."

Kendo let go of his hands and cupped his cheeks to raise his head. Their eyes met and Midoriya found himself unable to answer. Those determined pools of teal drew him in. He loved them, they brought him a sense of peace that he had long since forgotten. Every time he saw their shine it made him want to be the person she said he was.

"I want you to be happy and safe."

Kendo smiled as she wiped a stray tear away from his cheek. "And I want the same thing for you."

Midoriya wrapped his arms around Kendo pulling her into his chest and she happily returned the hug. When the two separated she moved back to his side to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Izuku, can I ask you some questions? If you can't answer them I'll understand."

"Go ahead."

"How long do you think it will take till you can get out?"

"Two months tops."

Kendos eyes widened as she turned to him. "Wait really?"

Midoriya nodded. "Last week I found a lead and everything looks promising. Now it's just the waiting game."

Kendo smiled uneasily before leaning her head back on his shoulder. "What do you think you'll do once you get out?"

"I'll work full time at the shop. I'm taking it over so there shouldn't be any issue there."

"What about Eri?"

Midoriya froze for a moment. "I… I don't know? I guess I won't see her anymore."

Kendo raised an eye. "Is that by choice or is it because you're leaving?"

"Eri is Gramps' granddaughter. There's no rule saying I can't see her, but it's unlikely I'll be allowed to while he's in a coma."

"Why's that?"

"The person in charge now wouldn't allow it. Even though he's not related to her, he was set to take responsibility over all of Gramps' things. That also includes Eri since she isn't old enough to take care of herself."

"I see, well I hope he gets better, maybe he'll still let you see her from time to time."

Midoriya nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Kendo squeezed Midoriya's hand. "Izuku, can you tell me about your parents and what happened?"

Midoriya glanced over at her. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I just want to understand you better. I can't say I understand why you want revenge, but I know practically nothing about your family. Just that they died in a fire and your dad was a scientist."

Midoriya took a deep breath as a small flame sparked in the palm of his free hand. "My mom was an angel, she supported my dreams and would play with me when I talked about being a hero." Midoriya laughed to himself as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I have this one vivid memory where she sat in a room with a blanket over her head. She'd yell 'help me!' I'd run in the room in an All Might onesie and yell 'I am here!' and then pull off the blanket. She'd thank All Might and then go, 'you're not All Might, you're my Izuku.' She'd pull me into her arms and we'd just laugh. She was my biggest fan."

Kendo leaned into him more as she reassuringly squeezed his hand. "She sounds amazing, I wish I could have met her."

Midoriya nodded. "Yeah, me too, she would have loved you."

Kendo flipped her hair proudly. "Obviously, I mean I'm awesome."

Midoriya laughed softly as he leaned into Kendo. "Dad was my inspiration. He's the reason I was so into quirks growing up. I told him I wanted to study quirks, so he handed me a notebook and said, 'pick a hero and write everything you know about their quirk and how they use them.' After I had done that he had me write other ways they could use their quirks. We'd read over them and he'd tell what was good and bad. Whenever he'd go away for work or conferences I'd fill out pages of hero's and quirks. The second he'd get back I'd hand him the notebook to go over. Looking back at it I know he was exhausted and wanted to relax, but he never pushed me away. He'd smile and take me into the living room and we'd spend hours going over the pages I filled out."

"So he's where you got your tendencies to analyze from. I wish he would have taught you to have more tact when analyzing."

"He would tell you, 'facts and math don't care about your feelings, but your mother does.'"

Kendo rolled her eyes playfully as she looked at the flame that was still in Midoriya's hand. She felt a lump form in her throat, but she needed to push through. "What happened that day?"

Midoriya closed his hand extinguishing the flame.

"When I was seven I came home to see my house completely collapsed. My parents were trapped under the rubble barely clinging to life. They were still alive, and they called out to me. I saw three people on the other side of the rubble, but I can't remember any of their features except one thing that still haunts me to this day. Those damn golden eyes."

Kendo wrapped her arms around Midoriya as he let out a sigh.

"After that two of the guys came after me. I have no clue what they were going to do, but I activated quirk. The next thing I knew everything was in flames and all I could hear were screams."

Kendo froze at his words. "Izuku… did you-"

"Kill them? Yeah, I did. My parents died in the fire too."

"Izuku, I'm so sorry."

"It's… well it's not fine, but it's something I have to live with."

"Still, you were so young and it was an accident."

Midoriya shook his head. "I doubt it, if it was an accident do you think I'd still want him dead after all these years?"

Kendo didn't have an answer, she only held onto him tighter. "Do you have any idea why someone targeted them?"

"My dad. Whoever it was wanted my dads research. I honestly don't know if they found what they were looking for, but almost everything was destroyed in the fire."

Kendo looked up at Midoriya hoping to get a read on his emotional state, but his face was blank.

"Can I ask what the research was?"

"He was researching Quirk Doomsday Theory and possibilities to stop it from happening."

Midoriya could feel Kendo's eyes on him, he looked down to see a confused expression on her face.

"There was a theory a long time ago that said that as quirks evolve they will get stronger and eventually people's bodies won't be able to safely handle them. He was trying to find a way that would stop quirks from mutating or combining."

"Is that even possible?"

"Probably, apparently my dad had some kind of breakthrough, but he died before he could prove anything."

"Nobody continued his research?"

Midoriya shook his head. "Quirk Doomsday Theory is actually a bit of a taboo. No one wants to confirm its validity because of the mass panic it would cause. That's why it's still a theory after all these years. No one wants to prove something that could cause the downfall of society."

"So do you think your dad was targeted because someone didn't want it confirmed?"

"It's either that or they wanted his research on… stopping quirk advancements. No, it couldn't be… could it?"

Kendo let go of Midoriya and looked at him concerned. His face had become a contorted mess.

"Izuku, is everything alright?"

Midoriya's expression softened as he sighed. "Yeah, something just came to mind and I don't know how I feel about it."

"Oh, do you want to talk about it?"

Midoriya shook his head. "No, I'm tired of talking about the past."

Kendo nodded as she relaxed into the hospital bed. "That's fine, thanks for letting me ask questions though Izuku. It's helped put my mind at ease."

Midoriya looked over at Kendo with a smile. "After everything you went through it's the least I could do."

Kendo laughed as she pulled him to lie down next to her. "You look exhausted after talking about everything. Why don't you take a nap?"

Midoriya yawned softly as he looked around. "The nurses won't mind will they?"

Kendo shook her head. "I doubt it. It's not like we're doing anything wrong."

With that Midoriya shut his eyes. The past two days had finally caught up to him as he fell asleep almost instantly. Seeing him look at peace warmed Kendo's heart.

She gently ran a hand through his hair as she watched him. She had gotten an answer to practically all the worries she had before the training camp and it brought a sense of relief. But since the night of the attack, she had one more question that she wanted to ask him.

Kendo's hand came to a stop as she thought about that night when she came face to face with Phoenix. The heat from his flames was intense. The screams of agony rang in her ear as the smell of a burning body filled her nose. She'd never forget that terrible smell, even just thinking of it made her want to vomit. But that wasn't the worst part of it all.

What scared her the most about that night was that she felt a sense of comfort from Phoenix's flames. She didn't know why, but the moment the wall separated her and Tetsutetsu from Phoenix and Mustard she knew everything would be ok. She felt safe. Kendo didn't know if it was because she had become accustomed to Midoriya randomly sparking flames and staring longingly at them, or if it was because the flames themselves felt familiar.

That sense of comfort and familiarity ate away at her and made her think about everything she knew about Midoriya and his quirk.

The first thing she thought about was the similarities between their quirks. They both could control fire at will. Sure fire control wasn't exactly rare, but it still was a similarity. A big difference was that Midoriya told Kendo that he could only control his flames and not the colors. Phoenix had been seen multiple times with different color flames. Kendo knew Midoriya could be lying about his flame control, but she didn't want to believe it.

As Kendo thought about this her phone started going off. Their class group chat was filled with notifications letting everyone know when they made it home safely. She smiled knowing that everyone wasn't physically harmed, but that smile quickly faded as she thought about home.

Midoriya's situation caused him to travel a lot. Phoenix seemed to pop up randomly and without any pattern. She knew she might be reaching, but she remembered when he first started looking after Eri. Phoenix appeared in Osaka around that time as well and Midoriya was confident that he would be ok.

A chill ran through her spine as she thought about the Hosu City attack. She and Yaoyorozu were exhausted from a day of filming and were trying to relax when the news struck. Yaoyorozu quickly took out her phone to try and get in contact with her class since Iida was doing his internship in Hosu. Kendo could still see the shock on her face when Yaoyorozu saw two of her contact locations showing in Hosu. While Kendo knew none of her classmates were there, she still couldn't help but check just to be safe. When she looked at her phone she froze, Midoriya's location registered in Hosu, but quickly changed back to Tokyo. She wrote it off at the time as a glitch, but now she wasn't sure.

With a deep sigh Kendo went back to running her hand through Midoriya's hair. She didn't want to overthink this anymore and decided to ask him when he woke up. She was certain he would deny it and laugh while saying she was reading into things too much. She wanted him to say that to her. She wanted to trust him.

Kendo closed her eyes as she gently kissed the top of Midoriya's head. "You are a good person Izuku. I know you are."