Dinner prep went smoothly enough, though Izuku was sure if he wasn't a werewolf his asthma would have kicked in every time he caught Mr Yaoyorozu staring at him. Izuku didn't think it could get any worse. But he was sorely mistaken as during dinner, Mr and Mrs Yaoyorozu asked him questions about his life. While Izuku was sure Mrs Yaoyorozu was just getting to know him, he was sure Mr Yaoyorozu was analyzing his response and judging to see if he was waiting for dating Momo.
It was when Mrs Yaoyorozu asked if Izuku would like anything else to drink besides water, Izuku had to toss a glance over to Mr Yaoyorozu before answering, "I won't say no to some tea."
Mrs Yaoyorozu smiled, "That sounds like a wonderful idea." As she got up and began to make the tea and form the smell of it, it was of higher quality then Izuku ever thought he would get the chance to have. Mr Yaoyorozu asked, "Are you sure we can't get you a beer? How about some wine?"
"Dad." Momo said starkly as she glared at her father.
"No sir. I'm good. I only ever use wine for cooking." Izuku said, then nervously added, "My mother taught me a few months ago."
"Oh. Yaomomo, you've got some good material to work with." Ronea said and laughed as her niece blushed a bit. Mr Yaoyorozu sighed and stood up and headed to the kitchen to ask his wife to make his cup a double.
Izuku felt his phone buzz again and feeling this was his chance to disappear for a bit, stood up and said, "Excuse I need to use the restroom." Izuku quickly stepped away from the table and once he was far enough down the hallway pulled out his phone. It was another text from Kei telling him to call. Izuku dialed Kei, who immediately picked up.
"Have you found the bullet yet?" Kei asked.
"No." Izuku said in a rushed tone, "I haven't even had a chance to search."
"Well start looking." Kei said.
"I can't search the whole house. I don't have the time. They'll get suspicious." Izuku said as he looked down the hallway to see if anyone was coming.
"Okay, okay, okay. You said it was Yaoyorozu's aunt that shot the magic bullet. Start in her room. She probably has the bullets stored in there, look for a duffle bag." Kei then paused, "Use your nose."
"My what?" Izuku questioned.
"We're looking for wolfbanes. Right, the same sort that made your asthma come back but your werewolf sense it probably smells like rotten egg. Find the scent and follow it." Kei said, then lowered his voice, "And please hurry, he's starting to smell like death."
Izuku didn't dignify his friend with a response, but hung up and slipped his phone back into his pocket. Izuku then listened to the conversation that was coming from the kitchen and dining room. Izuku then turned and hurried to the stairs. Walking past Momo's bedroom and the obvious master bedroom, Izuku came across the only other bedroom in the house.
Quietly pushing the door open, Izuku looked inside and saw numerous suitcases in the corner of the room. Stepping into the room, Izuku felt his sense of smell heightened and the smell hit him immediately. It wasn't quite the rotten egg smell Kei said earlier, but it did make his eyes water a bit. Almost like someone was cutting garlic and onion that had been left out in the sun for the whole day.
It was overpowering, but Izuku could at least tell it was coming from under the bed. So dropping to his hands and knees, Izuku lifted the bed skirt from the ground and looked underneath. There wasn't anything underneath the bed save for a single black duffle bag. Which Izuku grabbed out and opened. He quickly found the was full of loose yen bills, if Izuku didn't already know Momo and her family were werewolf hunters, it would be around this time he would question where all the money had come from.
Shuffling around the money, Izuku felt something hard and solid. Clasping his finger around it, Izuku pulled his hand out, finding a small wooden box. Etched into the surface of the wooden box was a drawing of wolfsbane and some kind of leaf. Undoing the small metal latch, Izuku pulled the top up and the smell became much stronger. It made his eyes water and his nose became scrunched. Yeap he could tell these were the bullets he was looking for.
Quickly grabbing one, Izuku set it aside and then closed the lid. Izuku then shoved the wooden box under the money and closed the zipper of the duffle bag. Izuku then shoved the duffle bag back under the bed, then as he stood up he grabbed the bullet. He noticed there was some kind of writing engraving on the casing of the bullet. Pulling out his phone and opening the translation app it came with,Izuku entered the writing int and translated it. "Nordic Blue Monkshood."
Having on idea what that means, Izuku texted it to Kei and told him to ask Kuraim what it was. In the backroom of Dr Asa's Clinic, Kei pulled out his phone and saw the text from Izuku. Kei then looked at a pale but profusely sweating Kuraim, he asked, "Does Nordic Blue.. Mon.. Monkshood means anything to you."
Even though he was already pale, the color left Kuraim's face as he recognized the name, "It's a rare extremely deadly variant of wolfsbane."
"And what exactly does that mean?" Kei asked.
"It means Midoriya needs to bring me a bullet. Or I'm going to die." Kuraim said he looked up at Kei. With a calm but panicking face, Kei relayed the information to Izuku.
At the Yaoyorozu house, Izuku pulled down at the text from Izuku. Izuku wanted to curse but stopped him. He then heard the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs. Panicking, Izuku raced over the bed room down and quietly slipped back into the hallway.
After quietly closing the door, Izuku took a deep breath. He then began to walk down the hallway, doing his best to act like he was lost. When he came around the corner he saw Renoa. Renoa spotted him and smiled, "Hey kiddo, Momo was getting worried about you. Thought you ran off. Tea's ready"
"Oh, sorry I got lost trying to find the bathroom. Big house." Izuku said.
"Yeah. It's a bit big for my taste." Renoa then slapped Izuku's shoulder, "Head down stairs. I have to get someone from my room."
As Renoa walked past Izuku, he became concerned that she would somehow know he had been in her room. He needed to get out and get a head start to Dr Asa's clinic before she realized he had taken one of her bullets. Izuku hurried down the stairs and was about to make a run for the front door when Momo suddenly came around the corner, "Oh there you are. Tea's ready."
Izuku froze. He knew he needed to get the bullet to Kei and Kuraim, but he also did want to ruin his chances of having Momo as a girlfriend. Izuku would have to try and make tea quick and get out as soon as possible. He followed Momo down the dining room, where her parents were waiting for them.
As they sat down, Mrs Yaoyorozu said, "So Midoriya, Momo tells us, after middle school you are going to enroll at UA."
Izuku took a small sip of his tea, it was a lot better quality than he or his mother could ever afford, "Yes. I'm going to go for their generals course."
"Not the hero course" Mr Yaoyorozu asked as he lifted his tea cup up to his lips.
"No." Izuku said.
Mrs Yaoyorozu gave him a confused look, "Why not? Isn't every kid's dream to become a pro hero?'
Izuku shook his head, "I had that dreaming growing up. But after I was diagnosed with asthma, that dream wasn't realistic." Like before if Izuku had to discuss either his asthma or his lack of quirk, he preferred to talk about the former. He found people didn't react too harshly to it, especially compared to when they learned he was quirkless.
"Huh, even with advances in medical technology, there isn't any surgery you could get?' Mrs Yaoyorozu asked.
"No. and if there is, I don't think my mother would be able to afford it. All I have are my inhalers and it's not like I could use them in the middle of a fight."
"What about Lacrosse? How do you get around your asthma, won't the physical exertion… cause it to act up?" Mr Yaoyorozu asked as he stared directly at Izuku.
Izuku had to take a sip of his tea before he answered, "It used to be. Well it still is, but it's only recently I'm being apart from the starting line up. I'm lucky not to have an attack during the game, but substitutions are easy and I can take a break."
"Huh." was all Mr Yaoyorozu said.
Izuku lifted his cup up again but found it was empty. Knowing he would just be kept here longer if he asked for more, Izuku set his cup back down on the table and began to stand up, "Thanks for the tea, it was lovely. But I should be heading out, I have some stuff I need to finish but turning in for the night."
"Oh, sorry if we kept you for too long." Mrs Yaoyorozu siad, then turned to Momo, "Why don't you see your friend to the door."
Momo nodded then took another sip of her sea. She stood up and walked Izuku to the front door, "I'm so incredibly sorry."
"For what?" Izuku asked as he grabbed his jacket and slipped it on.
"My father and his interrogation tactics." Momo said as she handed Izuku his backpack.
"Can't say I've ever been in that situation before. Usually it's Kei who does all the talking." Izuku said.
"Well, I think he likes you. At least more than the last few boys who tried to court me." Momo said.
"What makes you say that?" Izuku said, as he got the impression Mr Yaoyorzu didn't like me. He was only putting up with Izuku because he was being respectful to his daughter.
"Normally my father offers to take the boy to the shooting range." Momo said and dropped her head in shame.
Izuku paused, "That doesn't sound too bad. I've never been, it could be fun.'
"It sounds that way until my father implies that you'll be the target." Momo said with a small chuckle that Izuku matched but he was more nervous, "I guess I'll see you later."
"Yeah." Izuku then turned and opened the front door, onyl for Ronea to come down the stairs and called out, "Wait up you two."
Izuku and Momo turned and looked at Renoa as she stepped up and closed the door, "I got something to ask Midoriya."
"Okay." Izuku said, trying his best to sound confused, but he knew she was going to ask what he was doing in her room.
"What did you take from my room?" Ronea asked as she stood in front of Izuku, using her arm against the door to block him from running.
"What?" Izuku asked, trying to act like he wanted clarification.
"When you were upstairs claiming you got lost looking for the bathroom. I know I turned the light off in my room before heading out to the grocery stores. But when I entered my room, the light was already on." Reona said as she stared into Izuku's soul, "I never took you for a thief."
Momo looked over at Izuku and saw how stressed he was. She had been wondering how Izuku could possibly get lost looking for the bathroom, but she didn't want him to get in trouble for her action, "It was me."
That caused Izuku and Renoa to look over at her, "What?"
"It was me." Momo repeated herself, "I ran out of perfume and wanted to smell nice when Midoriya came over to study."
Renoa looked her niece up and down, and then smiled, "There the Yaoyorozu charm. I thought your father had killed it but ohhhhh, smelling nice for a study session. Are you sure you didn't want it to be anything else?"
"It's better to have stayed as a study session." Mr Yaoyorozu called out from the kitchen.
"What were you studying? Maybe some biology." Renoa said, which caused Momo to blush at the impelnation. But their attention was drawn back to Izuku as he had briefly faint, causing his knees to grow weak and hit the back of his head against the door. Renoa immediately withdrew her arm, "Oh I'm sorry Midoirya, is this making you uncomfortable."
"I like him almost fainting is your answer." Momo said as she helped support Izuku, while opening the front door, "Let's get you outside and some fresh air."
Izuku was thankful Momo was so caring, as the cool evening air hit him, he woke back up. "Do we need to drive you home?" Momo asked.
"Go I'm good to bike." Izuku said, taking a cautious step. Finding he could properly support him, he walked over to his bike and disengaged the kick stand. Izuku then walked his bike down the driveway, then before getting on felt the bullet in his pocket. He then turned and waved goodbye to Momo, who waved back.
Izuku then got on his bike and pedaled away, keeping a low speed, but the moment the Yaoyorozu house was out of view he sped up. He tore down the street, quickly making it out of the neighborhood and heading towards downtown.
At Dr Asa's clinic, Kuraim was looking worse and worse by the minute and Kei had to stop himself from gagging at the smell.
"Come on izuku, where are you?" Kei mumbled under his breath as he bounced in place, "I'd rather not find out that zombie werewolves exist as well."
"He's not here." Kuraim said, then took in a sharp breath, "Then we need to go with the backup plan."
"What back up plan. If you have a back up plan, then why didn't we do that first before we sent my best friend into the figurative wolf's den." Kei said.
"Because." Kuraim said as he forced himself to stand. He stumbled towards a few drawings, and began opening them, looking for something. Finding what he was looking over Kuraim turned around and slammed a bone saw against the metal table, "It involved you cutting my arm off."
Kei looked at the bone saw, while Kuraim was tying a rubber band around his arm like he was about to donate blood, "oh my god. What if you bleed out."
"Once the monkshood is out of my system. I'll regenerate." Kuraim said as he finished tying the rubber band.
"And what about your arm, well you will be able to regenerate an entire forearm." Kei said as he grabbed the bone saw and looked at it like it was the most disgusting thing in the world. Kei then noticed Kuraim didn't answer, "I don't know if I can do this."
"Why not?" Kuraim asked.
"Wel, because the cutting through flesh, the sawing of the blood and the squirting of the blood." Kei siad.
"Really, you. You're afraid of a little bit of blood." Kuraim said as he looked around the table at Kei.
"A little. You think me cutting off your arms is going to result in only a little bit of blood. And I really like this shirt." Kei said.
Kuraim growled and reached across and took a fistfull of Kei's shirt, "Okay how about this. Either you cut off my arm or I cut off your head. Which one is going to ruin your shirt more?"
Kei just nodded in understanding as he tightly gripped the bone saw, "I can't believe my life has come to this."
Kuraim let his arm drop to the table, as he braced his shoulder, "Just do it."
Kei raised the bone saw and held it a few inches above Kuraim's arm. Kei was able to pull the trigger, but Kuraim started to dry heave, then the next second he threw up a large quantity of blood but instead of being red it was black, "Do it now." Kuraim said weakly.
Kei took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger on the bone saw. The motor began to whirr and the saw moved back and forth at a high speed. Kei tried to focus on the sound of the motor, so he didn't hear the sound of flesh, muscle and bone being torn apart. Kei then began to move the bone saw done, but just as the tip of the blade was about to hit Kuraim's skin, Kei heard a door open.
Hoping that was the one thing that could make this all stop, Kei called out, "Izuku?"
"Kei." Izuku called out and then a few seconds later came through the door and saw Kei about to saw Kuraim's arm off, "What are you doing?"
"Oh thank god." Kei said, as he released the trigger on the bone saw, the blade slowed down. Kei then dropped the bone saw on the table. Kei ran over and grabbed his friend's shoulders and shook him, "Oh you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares." Kei then stopped and looked his friend in the eyes, "Tell me you got it."
Izuku reached into his pocket and pulled the bullet out, "Nearly killed me but I got it."
"Give." Kuraim said as he looked up at the bullet in Izuku's hand. Izuku stepped over to the table and handed Kuraim the bullet. Kuram brought the bullet up to look at it.
"So what now?" Kei asked.
"I need to get the herb inside and burn it. Then inhale it." Kuraim said as he started to titer a bit, then his eyes rolled back and he passed out. This caused him to fall to the ground and the bullet went rolling across the ground. As Kei dropped down to check on Kuraim, Izuku dove for the bullet. Yet the bullet rolled under some shelves, and as Izuku dropped out, he saw the bullet falling through a small metal grate.
"Midoriya, he isn't looking good. His pulse is weak." Kei said with his index and middle finger against Kuraim's neck. Izuku tossed a glance over to the duo and what he saw told him he needed to get that bullet back. Gripping the metal grate, Izuku tried to pull it out of its place, but it had rusted over. So without a heavy amount of heavy duty WD-40, it wasn't moving.
Yet that didn't deter Izuku as he continued to try and pull it out. Then as he was about to give up, he heard Kuraim's heartbeat becoming dangerously slow. Kuraim was still alive, and despite all he had done to Izuku, admitting some of its help, so in good conscience Izuku couldn't just let him die. Izuku felt his chest heat up and his eyes glow. Still holding onto the metal grate, Izuku felt his muscle tighten and with a growl pulled as hard as he could.
After a second the rust over the grate broke and Izuku pulled the rate out from under the shelf. Izuku's hand quickly shot underneath and went down the drain to feel around for the bullet. Feeling it brush against his fingers, Iuzku wrapped his fingers around the bullet.
Izuku then pushed the metal grate back under the shelf, as he got into his knee and looked at Kei, "Okay, what did he say to do with the bullet."
Kei paused for a second, "We need to get to the monkshood in the tip of the bullet and then we need to burn it so he can inhale the smoke. Crack the bullet tip open, I'll find a lighter or match."
Kei jumped up and began looking through the different cabinets and drawers, while Izuku gripped the tip of the bullet and broke it from the rest. He set the body of the bullet on the table, gunpowder started to pour out. Now with the tip of the bullet by itself, Izuku looked it over, now having any idea of how to get to the moonshood. Looking at his fingers, Izuku looked at his index finger and saw how its nail was starting to grow into length and become sharper.
With an idea into mind, Izuku pressed his claw against the blue tip of the bullet. Seeing the claw cut into the metal, Izuku carefully turned the bullet, and after a full rotation the blue tip fell to the ground.
"Found a match." Kei said, so he and Izuku rushed back to Kuraim, "Okay now what, how do we get him to inhale the smoke."
"Turn him onto his side." Izuku said, and helped Kei flip Kuraim into his side. Izuku then emptied the monkshood onto the ground next to Kuraim's nose, "Lit the match."
Kei nodded, then held the match against his pants's zipper and struck it. A small flame appeared on the tip of the match and Kei lowered it to the herb . The monkshood must have been dried because it easily caught fire. The smoke rose and a bit went into Kuraim's nose. After a few seconds of seemingly nothing happening, Kuraim's eyes shot open and glowed as he took a deep breath.
Kuraim's body began to shake, but that wasn't what caught Izuku and Kei's attention. No it was the bullet wound. The dark color of Kuraim's veins were receding into the wound, then they disappeared and the bullet was pushed out of the wound. An unearthly growl came from Kuraim as the wound closed and he passed out again.
Kei quickly put his hand against Kuraim's neck, "Crap his pulse is low." That meant the heart was still working and Kuraim wasn't dead yet. Kei just needs to get a message through, one strong enough to get Kuraim to wake up. Despite having wanted to do this for a while, Kei had a feeling he was going to regret this. Kei drew back his right fist, "Please don't kill me for this."
Before Izuku could question what his friend was going, Kei punched Kuraim across the jaw. The moment Kei's knuckle made contact it felt like he was punching a wall made out of All Might. Luckily Kei's hand didn't break but he could tell it was going to be sore for a while. More fortunately, Kei didn't need to punch again because the next second Kuraim took a deep breath and woke up.
Kuraim's eye shut open and he was about to step, but then he paused. He slowly lifted a hand up to his jaw and gently touched it, "Why does my jaw hurt?" Kuraim then looked at the two middle schoolers, "Which one of you punched me?"
Kei tried not to give himself where as he said, "You spilled and fell on your face."
Kuraim looked at Kei, but decided against doing anything. Izuku stood up and held his hand to help Kuraim up. Kuraim took the hand and Izuku hauled him to his feet, "Alright. We just saved your life. So you're going to leave us alone. Or else I'll go back and tell Mr Yaoyorozu. I'll tell him everything."
"After everything you've been through you're going to test them, over me." Kuraim said.
"At least they haven't directly threatened me." Izuku pointed out.
"That's because they don't know what you are. The moment they do…." Kuraim said, as he paused and suddenly looked around, then he looked back at Izuku, "You want to know who they are? I'll show you and you'll know exactly what you've got roped into."
Kuraim turned and walked out of the room, as Kei looked to Izuku, "We have been wanting answers. If he is willing to give them." Izuku nodded to show his understanding. They followed after Kuraim.
As the only vehicle they had was the jeep Kei had stolen, Kuraim led the two down the street of Musutafu. When Kuraim stopped Izuku and Kei looked around, only to realize they were standing in the parking lot of an assisted living home.
"What are we doing here?" Kei said.
"The person who can give you all the answers is here?" Kuraim said as he began walking to the front door.
"Great, an old senile grandpa." Kei scoffed as he and Izuku followed after Kuraim. At the front desk, Kuraim signed in and then led them down a series of hallways, until they arrived at a door. After pushing it open, Kuraim gestured for the two of them to walk in. Walking in, Izuku saw an older man sitting in a chair, with his back turned to him.
"Sir, I'm Iz…." Izuku paused as he noticed how still the man was. Quietly Izuku walked up to the man from his left side. The man looked normal enough, the only odd thing was he wasn't blinking. That was until Izuku stepped in front of the man and saw the large burn mark on the man's face, go up into his hair and go down his neck and disappear under his shirt. Izuku quickly looked over at Kuraim, "Who is he?"
"Hiroto Kuraim. My uncle and last remaining living relative." Kuraim said as Kei walked up to Hiroto and looked him over, "What happened to him?'
"The hunters. Yaoyorozu family. A member of our family hasn't been killed in generations, but the Yaoyorozu only see us as mindless bloody beasts. It was six years ago, one of their members broke into our house and burnt it down. My sister and I were the only ones to escape with minor injuries. Everyone else was stuck inside, by the time pro heroes arrived everyone was dead. Except my uncle who I found in the garage, just like this. I admitted him here, hoping to give him a peaceful area to heal." Kuraim said, "This is what they do to us. They don't care if we are nice, or trying to become pro heroes. They just see us as wild animals, a danger to others, a danger that needs to be put down."
"Why isn't he healing?" Kei asked.
"Werewolves have to be conscious to heal, we have to force it. And my uncle, he's been in a coma since that day. He's healing like any other person and there's nothing I can do." Kuraim siad.
"What makes you so sure that it was the Yaoyorozu that set your house on fire?" Izuku asked. He couldn't see Momo and as much as he feared him, Izuku couldn't see Mr Yaoyorozu doing something like that.
"Because they're the only ones that knew about us." Kuraim said, "Why can't you understand Midoriya? Hunters, they don't care about who we are. A hundred generations they hunted us, even in the light of quirks, we were called different. An abomination to humanity, and that's why they still hunt us today. Same views, same order, same code."
Izuku looked back at Kuraim's uncle. Momo couldn't ever do anything like this, she wanted to become a pro hero. Someone who wanted to do something so noble could do something like this. Burn an entire house down, just because they could be villains. It wasn't who she was, who she could ever be. But then Izuku thought back to that dream he had only a few nights ago. If that they saw him as, then but perchance if they gave him the chance he could prove them wrong by becoming a pro hero people who rely and feel safe around, like All Might.
After Kuraim left them by watching down the street, Kei and Izuku walked down Dr Asa's clinic. Where Kei drove Izuku home. Once in his room looked over the exercise and meal plan All Might had given him. Looking it over again, a new plan began to form in Izuku's mind. All Might had created this plan with the idea that a normal human body was going through it. But Izuku wasn't normal even by the standards of the world he lived in. Werewolves healed more easily, he had just since Kuraim healed from a bullet wound, a magic bullet wound. And they were stronger and faster, something Izuku had felt for himself.
Looking down at the folder All Might had given to him, Izuku knew he could do this. He could prover Werewolves weren't evil. He would show the hunters, the whole world he could be a pro hero.
That following Saturday Izuku got up early and was at the beach, cleaning up the trash long before Toshinori or Kei had a chance to arrive. As Toshinori parked his truck and got out, Kei pulled next to him, before either of them gave a greeting they heard a yell coming from the beach. Giving each other a look, Kei and Toshoinro walked up to the edge of the beach and looked over. Only to see Izuku pushing a car through the sand, but he didn't look, no he looked determined.
The same look Nana Shimura always told Toshinroi he had always when she had first started to train him to receive One for All. Toshinori turned to Kei and asked, "What has happened since the last time I saw you?"
"He found something he wants to prove. Something personal." Kei said as he looked down at his best friend. From a young age Izuku had always wanted to be a pro hero, a person to protect others. The type that people could look up to the sky and see hope and safety. Even after not gaining a quirk and being bullied for it, Izuku never stopped talking about it to Kei.
Kei liked to joke about fate, saying it was some crazy and bizarre ideal people created to give meaning to the chaos of the universe. But Kei believed many were forged into pro heroes, a few were born to be pro heroes, and every once in while there came along someone. Humble and sincere, but powerful enough to become something more than a pro hero, but a legend. That drive, that fire, that belonging, it was something Kei had always seen in his best friend. It might have taken longer than normally, but now Izuku had the tool to become a legend of history.
Kei was drawn out of his thoughts as he saw Izuku slip on the sand and hit his jaw on the trunk of the car as he fell. Well, the idea of a legend would have to wait, first Kei had to make sure Izuku survived middle school.