Chapter 1: Fated Origin
Page 1
The Kit Is Born
In this bizarre world of quirks, anything is possible. Whether it's the destruction of mankind or the creation of a peaceful utopia, all have the possibility of happening based on one small decision. Words couldn't even describe how jarring it was that the world could be shaped in such a way where millions if not billions of choices are made a day and many of them have little significance in making the world turn, but every once in a while, a decision is made that may at first seem small, but actually changed the wheels of history forever.
Who would've thought one of those moments would happen because of a pair of fox ears.
Izuku Midoriya was a strange case. The day he was born was eventful. It began when his mom went into labor much sooner than doctors expected, sending everyone into a panic. To make things stranger, during labor the unborn boy was flailing the entire time. It was as if a wild beast was fighting to be free from the cage that had imprisoned him for so long, or, as Inko Midoriya described it, "Who the fuck put a headless chicken in my womb!" The doctors rushed to get her situated both out of worry of the baby's strange behavior and because Inko, in her labor pains, threatened the doctors with such a wide variety of words that would surprise even linguists. Despite not being born yet, the boy kept up this amount of ferocity until he was delivered, whereafter he immediately calmed.
Beside the green hair that he had inherited from his mother, he was also born with unnaturally sharp canines, nails, and thin marks that looked like whiskers on the very side of his face. At the time, it was passed off as a part of his quirk, since it wasn't unusual for some children to have their quirk manifest or partially manifest at birth, seeing as the first official quirk-bearing person was a baby that was barely a few hours old. As a precaution, the head doctor requested that Inko and her newly born son stay at the hospital for a few extra days, just to make sure everything was okay. Midoriya's dad, despite frequent travel for work, stayed with his family the entire time they were there.
Once the hospital released the mother and her baby, they continued to live a considerably normal life. Hisashi Midoriya went back to his business travels and Inko raised their son. There was little concern about their baby's body, as they expected it was going to be connected to his quirk once he grew up, most likely taking traits from his father. Lo and behold, one day a few months after Izuku turned three, something happened.
POOF!
"MOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" a young Izuku yelled from his room.
The surprise in his voice triggered any mother's intuition. Her breath came in ragged gasps and her eyes were wide as she came rushing into the room. "WHAT? What, Izuku?"
"I have four ears!"
He wasn't exaggerating either. He really did have four ears, two on each side of his head like any regular person and two more ears on top that didn't look human. They resembled the fox ears his father had, except they were still furless and were really small, meaning they probably weren't done growing out yet.
With the relief of knowing her baby was alright, Inko passed out and fell to the ground, having drained herself from worrying about her baby. Unfortunately, Izuku at the time thought his fox ears were the reason his mom lost consciousness because they freaked her out, and felt ashamed of his ears. Despite his mom's constant apologies and explanation, he kept his ears hidden from everyone with a hat he refused to take off for the next nine weeks. That was the day his dad came home from his travels to visit, fully dressed with a hat and everything. After a quick talk with his wife, he knew he needed to have a chat with his son.
"Izuku, I'm back!"
The sound of rushing little feet echoed throughout the hall before the small child ran his way in front of his father to happily greet him.
"Daddy, you're back! Did you bring me any souvenirs?
"Of course, but we can save that for later—"
"Awww."
"—but I think you might have a surprise to show me."
"I do?"
"Mhm, something that popped up on your head one day?"
It took a second for Izuku to get what he was referring to before the excited young boy quickly turned more shy and introverted, turning his head slightly away to avoid eye contact. There was uncertainty in his voice.
"I don't think you'll want to see them."
"Why not?"
"Because you might faint like mommy!"
Hisashi chuckled a bit to himself before telling his son, "Well, you know your mom, her heart is weak and it takes more effort to not scare than any person I've ever met—"
"H-hey!" Inko exclaimed, blushing, feeling embarrassed that her presence was made out to look so frail despite how accurate it was.
"—but she's strong-willed," he continued, "At least strong enough to have given birth to you, and you were a strong rascal when you were being born."
"I was?" Izuku asked, tilting his head.
"She practically went ballistic on everyone to get you out, that's how powerful you were. I've never seen your mom say such things that day. My favorite line was 'I don't care if you need to use a ladle to scoop that little f—'"
"Let's stay on topic!" Inko shouted again, her face became redder than a tomato. That day will forever haunt her because of her actions.
Clearing his throat, Hisashi told his son, "Point is, I'll be fine."
Still, the boy was hesitant. "I'm not sure, you promise you won't pass out? It was really scary when mommy did it."
"Only if you don't faint seeing mine."
Removing his hat, Hisashi showed his son his fully grown fur-covered fox ears, wiggling them around a bit to show him that they were real. Such adorable things will awe any child who saw them, and Izuku was no exception. His dad was even kind enough to let him touch them for fun, only if Izuku promised to show him his own right after. Finally building the confidence to do so, Izuku lowered his head toward his dad so he could get a better look, removing his own small hat to reveal his small, furless, still-maturing ears.
Silence filled the room as Izuku braced himself for his father's reaction, he feared that he would have the same reaction as his mother. Would his father faint or be frightened by his ears as well? Was he actually a freak of nature with his appearance? These were the questions that plagued such a little mind.
But those chilling thoughts melted away when he felt a warm hand settle on his head and heard his father's voice.
"They're fine."
Letting out a gasp of relief, Izuku felt secure about himself.
"Oh hey, I see a bit of fur on one of them; that's pretty cute!" his father said as he began softly rubbing the ear he mentioned, causing the young child to begin squirming.
"Stoooooop!" the boy begged. His ears were still too sensitive.
Having had enough fun messing with his son and seeing as the results made his mother smile, the father patted him once more before giving him some words of advice.
"You are both a kind soul and a powerful person, Izuku Midoriya; never forget that and never be ashamed of your body, especially of those ears of yours!"
Hisashi's inspiring message, one that would spark Izuku's ambition to become a hero, was quickly followed by Izuku turning around and pulling down his pants to show a tiny hairless tail he had as well.
"What about this?" Izuku asked, "This popped out like a week ago."
Hisashi had nothing to say. He hadn't been prepared for that as he had only been told about the ears and assumed if a tail showed up he would've been told so, as it would be pretty hard to miss. Inko wasn't expecting that either and fainted again from the shock and suddenness of it all.
"Honey!"
"Oh no, mom! I did it again!"
"D-don't worry son, she'll be fine. She fainted when she first saw mine as well!"
A heartwarming little family moment together.
That was the last time Izuku would physically see his father.
As usual, he would be gone for long periods of time, with Izuku's only chance of seeing him being by phone and video calls.
When Izuku was a few weeks away from turning five, Inko began to grow concerned about his growth. Izuku's tail and ears had barely grown at all since that day almost two years ago. They were still in the same unmatured state and had only grown just enough fur to cover them even then, the fur hadn't molted yet to the proper color. Only his whiskers kept their very thin shape. It was passable at first since he was young, but after some research on fox growth she found out that this was pretty abnormal. Usually, it took four weeks for just about everything to set in, not over two years. Even his father, who was a self-proclaimed 'late bloomer' only took five-and-a-half-weeks to grow his mature coat.
After some debate, she finally took him to the hospital to have him checked out. It was good timing, as she had a second concern she was worried about.
"Nope, not happening. The kid is quirkless."
Shocking news to a kid who wanted to become a hero.
"But how can that be?" Inko asked the doctor with a concerned face, "His ears, his claws, the whiskers, and the tail!"
"I don't know what to tell you, but all I know is that his biology says he's quirkless."
The doctor took the time to explain to them medically how a hospital can determine whether someone has a quirk or not.
"My guess is, your son's fox-like features are a result of some recessive genes in his DNA that have been mutated because of the quirks of the parents. It has happened before, it's how we got people with unique body features and hair colors without it being related to their quirks, and in some cases they were quirkless. Though I've never encountered an occurrence this rare, I assume he got it from his father. How have they been functioning for him."
The doctor shifted in his chair as he got a bit more interested in the subject.
"That's actually the other reason why I came. He's been displaying little-to-no signs of activity in either of those parts. He can barely hear through his fox ears, and any sound he does hear through them usually ends up as incomprehensible sounds that hurt his head, so I had to get him earplugs. He can't even wriggle them. He has no control over his claws, can't wag his tail, and his sense of smell didn't get better."
"Were these all traits your husband had?"
"Yes! He had all those things on top of his ability to spit fire. Combined with my ability to bring small objects toward me, I always thought his fox traits would only be secondary, much less this. Is there anything we can do?"
"That's the thing ma'am; there are still many things we don't know about how quirk will affect the human body. From what I can see, your son has a bunch of fox body parts that he can't use because of how neurology works. In simple terms, his brain is unable to properly send messages to the nerves in those parts. I'm still unsure why, but him being born early the way he was could've probably had something to do with it. We can do something about his claws, but everything else we can't do much about without strapping him to a test table."
Just like that, any dream of him being a hero, much less a normal person, was crushed in one cruel twist of fate.
His father stopped calling the family completely a few months later.
Izuku stopped being proud of his ears and began to hide them again soon after.
By age six, the stress was causing his mom to gain weight and strangely decrease in size.
At age eight, Izuku's mother began having health problems.
And at age ten he found out what was the cause and it shook him to his core.
It's tragic how quickly a life can be seen as cursed. One moment the day is as bright as the shining heavens above, and then the next it's a neverending nightmare, a kind of nightmare where anyone would be willing to do anything to help them escape their hardships. That wasn't an option for Izuku as his curse was something he could never escape, especially with the neverending reminder that was Izuku's fox ears.
In situations like these, it seems almost certain that destiny had chosen the boy's path and there was nothing he could do about it.
With no hope, he can only look up at the moon floating in the sky, still shining brightly throughout the vastness of the night, and pray for good fortune.
Only the saving grace of a miracle can save the boy from his fate, a stroke of good luck to change the wheels of fate.
Page 2
A Stroke of Good Luck
On the night of a full moon, a young fox boy was in his room, staring up at the moonlit sky a few minutes before he had to go to bed. Among the many stars that floated in the sky, the boy's eyes were always drawn to the moon. He remembered a story his mom told him about how if you look carefully at the moon, you can spot a cute animal of some kind standing on a pot, pounding something. The exact details were hazy to him. He doesn't even remember what the animal was supposed to be or why it was pounding into a random pot on the moon. All he knew was that he liked its ears. Whatever it was, if it can make its way to the moon and become a legend, then it has to be magical, or at least special, something that can perform a miracle. Looking at the moon with innocent eyes, holding a memento from his father, the boy made a silent prayer.
"Please, cute creature on the moon, bring me some good luck."
Years passed and before Izuku Midoroya knew it, he was thirteen.
Many things have changed. His mom was no longer the tall, slender, man-catcher that she once was. Life hadn't been so grateful to her. She has yet to find out what happened to her husband or if he was even still alive and suddenly becoming a single mom took a toll on her health as the years dragged on.
Then there was the situation with Izuku's still hid his ears and tail from everyone, mostly through clever clothing choices. Makeup helped cover up his face whiskers. For his tail, he tied it to his back with a belt, as he didn't want to go through the painful process of sitting on it all day during school. It sucked that despite not being able to move his fox parts he can still feel pain from them. He had to get more tricky for his ears, purposely growing out his hair to cover most of the base and then tying down his ear with string so he can brush his hair over it.
The last thing he hid was a black fox tail, a souvenir from the day his father saw his fox ears for the first time. Now it's a memento and the only thing he had to remind him of his dad. He had worn it in a couple of different ways, first trying to be discrete by using it as a phone decoration, then as a keychain, and finally an earpiece. After those failed because they obviously did the opposite of his goal, he settled on making it a bracelet that he would occasionally wear on during a test for good luck. During a test is the only time he was certain no one would pay attention to him, so he found it safe to keep his memento out.
The only people who would naturally see his hidden parts were the ones he lived with like his mother, since the boy's awareness slipped the most around her, though usually by accident and it resulted in Izuku hiding in his room all day.
He never wanted his mom to see his fox side again, not after overhearing something he wasn't meant to hear.
He truly wished he hadn't heard what he had heard that day. He already heard a lot because of the cruel and unforgiving hell on earth that is school. Of course, the lie Inko told his school was that Izuku had an 'undeveloped' fox quirk, to explain why he had a fox boy's appearance and yet none of the capabilities of a fox. While at first, when he was three, having something that can be taken as a quirk being manifested so early in life made him easily accepted and popular among his peers. When everyone else's quirk began manifesting fully and his 'quirk' remained undeveloped years after, the ridicule began.
At first, it was a one specific person making a few harmless cracks about him, then a couple of kids joined in, and from there the inevitable spiral into a group of people cruelly mocking him began, calling him things like 'defective', 'half-baked', 'primitive beast', 'alpha test', 'beta dog', and 'pre-evolution trash,'
Luckily, most of it stopped as time went by, the only exception being the more delinquent students in his classes. As cruel as kids could be, all they knew was that he had an underdeveloped, weak quirk. It wasn't one he would be praised for, but since he wasn't known as quirkless he was no different from everyone else in society. He could blend into the endless waves of society without fear of being singled out if he wanted to.
But the damage had already been done and yet no one knew it.
It wasn't all bad. For one, Izuku's ears grew out a bit more and he could pick up more sound from them, not that it meant he could understand anything he heard, but it at least by the time he's hopefully twenty-one they'll look like regular fully grown fox ears. Speaking of regular fox ears, he managed to grow a decent amount of fur around them and they finally gained some color, now they had a dark green look to them that was only a few shades lighter than his hair. They were as big or fluffy as they should've been but at least it's something. His tail followed the same pattern as well, though it still doesn't have that signature fluff or length yet. The only thing that was semi-functional was his nails, while he can't naturally extend or retract it but he can manually do it with a pair of pliers. It may be a painful process to go through to control a few nails but now they became the easiest thing to hide, usually keeping them retracted.
They were all essentially useless to have, except for his nails but a dull box cutter was just as effective. If he was going to be stuck with them he may as well have it look normal, that's the best he can do, look normal.
'Look normal, look normal, in public, it's ok to seem like you're quirkless. If worse comes I'll just show them my teeth.'
He repeated these lines in his mind over and over again in his mind as he walked down the city streets from school. Even though no one on the streets would care about his appearance seeing as a society of quirks give form to make different shapes and sizes, Izuku put an unwarranted amount of care in concealing himself, all to avoid the glares of people whose eyes aren't even focused on him. When we're unsure about ourselves logic always seems to slip out of our minds. Izuku doesn't even realize that sometimes his intensive internal thoughts would leak into vocal mumbling nonsense.
"Oi, stop your mumbling!" Shouted a very annoyed ash blonde, "What, is your mouth defective as well?"
Katsuki Bakugo, was one of Midoriya's childhood friends. They've collectively been friends ever since they went to the same daycare when they were three, what was truly shocking was when they all found out that their moms knew each other since high school, what were the odds? Like most kids having mothers that were good friends meant that they got to see a lot more of each other, that was amplified after Midoriya's father disappeared and Inko's health began to waver. The two spent a lot more time with each other as Mitsuki Bakugo, Katsuki's mom, came over to support Inko during those difficult times. Eventually, it happened so frequently that Mitsuki just had them move in with her family and she didn't take no as an answer. Quite literally did she pack up their stuff for them, she also ordered the moving company and dragged his mom to their house by the wrist despite protest. After an extremely awkward explanation to the police, Inko relented and the Midoriyas' moved in with the Bakugos'.
Being snapped out of his internal monologue, Izuku stammered with his words
"W-what?"
"Your mumbling, your damn mumbling! You're doing it again."
"Oh, I didn't-"
"You've been doing that a lot lately, even at night when I'm trying to sleep! Like what the hell!?"
"Sorry."
"You better be, geez you're such a fucking bothersome Deku."
Deku, someone who is worthless or can't do anything, a signature nickname given to him by his long time friend sometime after they've lived under the same roof. First coming into fruition when one of their classmates pointed out how him having an 'underdeveloped fox quirk' where he received the physical features but can't use them was a pretty worthless thing to have. It didn't take long for Katsuki to start using the word Deku, mostly referring to how often he saw Izuku at home struggling to do nearly everything, the only exception was his studies but even then Bakugo would get nagged at by his mom to help him study more.
It wasn't Izuku's fault, it was around the time his ears became too big for his usual earplugs and started picking up more sound, it became difficult for him to pay attention in class. Every noise those cursive ears picked up became a pounding sound that echoed in his head, at one point it caused him to be sent to the nurse's office because the sound of the school bell brought him to the verge of tears once. He wasn't able to return to school till after he had custom earplugs made for his fox ears, that didn't help make him a fan of his ears anytime soon. He was lucky Bakugo was such a great note taker or else he would've easily fallen behind in class.
How they get to the current status of their current relationship was a mystery to Izuku, they used to be the best of friends as children but now they're like begrudging associates, with them growing further apart despite living under the same roof. Izuku can barely tell you a lot of personal things about Bakugo besides the few snippets he picked up from living with him, like his love for spicy food.
It started around the time they were seven, about a year before Bakugo's mom 'persuasively' invited them to her home, Bakugo was among the first of the kids who started making jokes about him; it was mostly light-hearted and didn't affect him any worse than when anyone ever mentions his fox ears. Then suddenly, as if he had a lifetime of pent up hatred toward him, his remarks started becoming more cynical and he repeatedly brought up how troublesome it was for him to deal with him and all issues, medical or otherwise. That was when the nickname Deku was slapped on by Katsuki, his personal branding mark to signify how he felt about Izuku's presence in his life. Being reminded of it always brought Deku to silence considering his current feelings about his birth.
"..."
"I swear it's one thing after another with you, you'll probably forget your fucking head if it wasn't screwed on your shoulders."
"..."
"You remembered to take home your textbooks right, we got that math test next week. You probably forgot didn't you?"
"..."
"Hey!"
"..."
Not getting an answer Katsuki turned to his usual methods of getting Izuku's attention, pulling hard at his fox ears, knowing the pain would make it irresistible to ignore. It was easy for him to find even though Izuku has hidden them in his hair, he can probably pick out his ears with his eyes closed, living with someone for so long will have that he didn't use to much force, to Izuku it felt like his ear was being tortured.
"Answer me already dumbass! I don't want crap from my mom if you fail."
"Y-yes! Yes! I brought my books! Please let go, it hurts!"
Usually, he wasn't this rough with his ear when he just wanted his attention but today was different, Katsuki was already in a bad mood due to an incident in school. It started when Midoriya got a little carried away this morning and went to go watch a hero stopping a villain despite already being late in heading to school, just because he wanted to collect a bit more notes about heroes in his handbook. If it wasn't for Katsuki finding him and dragging him to school by his neck collar while saying ninety-nine reasons why he's the dumbest person he knows for his hero obsession, he would've been late to class. That was strike one, strike two came a bit later during class. Unfortunately, their teacher didn't bother obeying the note Izuku wrote and announced to the whole class that both Katsuki and he planned to attend UA high school after graduating, it sent Katsuki ballistic.
Izuku has yet to find out why but for some reason, whenever Izuku's dream of becoming a hero gets brought up, the ash-blonde takes great care in stomping the thought six feet deep with a raging fury. Izuku was lucky they were still in class at the moment so all that happened was the usual fury of insults, that the other class members joined in on, and purposely going through his bag to get the hero handbook he worked so hard on to blow it out the window. A little bit before school ended and the pair had to walk home, he quickly went to receive the book in secret and was lucky that the book was only lightly charred. At least then he had some saving grace from his enraged housemate, who finally relented and let go of his ear before scolding him a bit more.
"Next time listen!"
"I'm sorry."
That was when a small group of boys, friends that usually hang out with Katsuki approach them.
"Hey Bakugo, what up!?" One of the boys asked, "I see you're walking home the beta dog! How are his half-baked ears?" As the boy reached to grab Izuku's already aching fox ears, he suddenly stopped dead cold mid-motion.
For any by-stander, this would seem strange but Izuku knew if he looked to his side he'd know the answer, it was Bakugo. Right as his own friend was about to lay his hands on Izuku, Bakugo's red eyes gave him a steely cold look that froze his core, one that conveyed to the boy that it was probably best if he didn't go through with his actions if he knew what was good for him.
Knowing he had control of the situation he continued the conversation, the sound of his voice was in a tone that was chillingly between calm but aggressive, "What do you want?"
Putting his hand down, the boy told him, "U-uh, We were about to head downtown to do something and wanted to see if you wanted to come with us?"
"I'm down, Oi dumbass!" Katsuki called out to Izuku, even though he was right next to him. Guess he didn't want him to mishear anything, "Get your defective ass straighthome, no fucking detours got it?"
Midoriya nodded, watching as his housemate walked off with his friends. He knew the importance of why Katsuki wanted him home so bad, it's because his mom said that between the time they leave the house for school until he comes back, Izuku was his responsibility. Once he gets home and one of their parents sees him, he won't be held accountable for what happens to him. Another unintentional weight Izuku's presence brought to his life that he's unwillingly dealing with.
It was clear there was some disdain for him but Izuku couldn't tell if Katsuki truly hated him or not, he was both the person who bullied him the most and the worst but it's also because of him that he's his only real bully. It couldn't just be because of his parents' ordering him to ensure his safety, Katsuki was the biggest danger of his life, having caused more bruises to him than anyone else he met. If he hated him so much then why did he also prevent anyone from laying a finger on him? He's weird, the Bakugos' in general are weird.
Doing as he was told, Izuku walked home alone but instead of taking the usual route home he would take with Katsuki, he took another way home. It was a street not far from his home he loved going through because it had an attraction he couldn't resist, Hirozu Street, the street of heroes! It was one of those streets that dedicated itself solely to one theme, you can find countless hero themed stores, buildings, and merchandise here. While there are many other places in the city where one can get their hero fix, streets like these are where the nichest of things can be found for the most dedicated of fans. For someone like Izuku, this place was a goldmine.
Technically it wasn't a detour he was taking as the street did lead him home, there was only a tenish minute difference between his regular route. The only reason he doesn't usually take it is because Katsuki would get sick of him stopping every five seconds to awe something he saw, turning an extra ten minutes of walking into a two-hour adventure if they were lucky! Izuku was just too addicted to heroes, taking comfort in fonding over everything related to them and doing whatever he can to feel as if he's experiencing a taste of hero life.
What else can he do about it? His dreams of being a hero, despite him pitifully telling himself that maybe one day he can, was virtually dead. If being quirkless wasn't already a red herring of being ineligible, having parts of his body that does nothing but damper his ability to do anything drove it in. Like his ears having 'super-sensitive' hearing but everything is inaudible and hurts his ears, that only proves he wasn't meant to be a hero. Yet through it all, he kept telling himself maybe a stroke of good luck will come past him one day and his destined life would change forever.
Then he tripped, trampling on someone's leg before face planting on the ground because life hasn't already made a lot of bad things happen to him today. Compared to everything else he dealt with today, this was pretty light, at least it couldn't get any worse.
KABOOM!
An explosion happened.
Where did it come from? Izuku didn't know, his face was barely off the ground when it happened, all four of his ears were ringing from the explosion, and he couldn't see what was happening because a flash of light blinded him. All he felt was his weak body being forcefully carried off into the air, was this his soul flying up to heaven? No, he felt gravity pulling his body toward the ground, he was still alive but it might not be for long. He should come crashing to the ground any second now, if he's lucky he'll make it out of it alive with a broken arm.
Izuku braced himself for impact-
…..
-but nothing happened.
He never felt himself hit the ground, more like he's suspended in midair, did he actually die!? His mom would be devastated! Opening his eyes he found himself looking below at rubble in the street caused by the attack, now he was actually scared that he died because only birds and floating ghosts can look down at destruction like this.
"Hey, you ok kid?"
He heard a vigorous but feminine voice say to him. With his vision returning he looked up to find a dark-skinned young girl staring down at him, sticking out from her flowing straight white hair was a pair of long white rabbit ears; if it wasn't for the fact that Izuku was still trying to comprehend what was happening he would've been tempted to ask if he can pet them, he liked fluffy things. Gaining back some of his senses he looked down to see that her left leg was wrapped around his waist, keeping him in air, while her other leg and arms held onto a street pole. They were about several feet off the ground, it amazed the fox boy seeing her hold him up like that in her position.
Izuku thought to himself, 'Wow! What an insane amount of leg strength she must have to be to carry me in the air with just her thigh!'
Using her left hand the dark-skinned girl tilted around the fox boy's face, after giving him a quick check she said out loud, "Yeah you look fine, lucky I was right next to ya huh!"
She smiled, satisfied with herself because she knew If it wasn't for her powerful legs, this boy might've gotten seriously injured.
Neither of them knew it yet, but this tiny encounter that can be chalked up to pure luck will forever change the current conditions of both their lives and the course of destiny shifts ever so slightly leading to new possibilities.
Chapter 3: Page 3
A Instinctive Awakening
The wheels of fate for two unexpecting people have been altered and doors to new possibilities are opened.
"Your clothes might be a little scuffed, but eh, least you're not dead, right?" the girl who saved him said as she looked down at him. She had striking red eyes, her confident smile was remarkable to look at, and her bunny ears looked so fluffy!
Izuku couldn't think of anything to say. So much had happened in the short amount of time that he didn't know what to start with. Should he ask about the explosion? Who did it? Why? Who she was? If he could pet her ears? Or how her thighs are so strong? He couldn't make a decision and ended up just staring back at her with a dazed look.
Seeing the funny look she was getting, the girl said, "You better not be one of those dumbasses who thinks it's the end of the world when your one pair of clothes gets ruined! At worst, it's one bad day. You can't let your life be defined by one bad day!"
Izuku continued to stare at her. This dark-skinned bunny girl intrigued him in so many ways, from her cute ears all the way down to her insanely strong legs. He didn't mind being given decent advice from the girl, even though they're not on the same subject as she thinks he's silent because of his clothes when it's actually because the last ten seconds of his life has been the most eventful it's been in years.
"Steer your own life! To me, as long as you have a sliver of it left, you can do something with it and make it count," the rabbit girl told him as she used her left hand to dust some dirt off him while sliding down the pole until her free foot touched the ground while her other legs were still wrapped around him.
She turned her attention toward the direction of a rising smoke cloud, supposedly where the explosion came from.
"How do you like that?" screamed a jagged voice out of the smoke. "I got a lot more where that came from if you want it! Who wants some? Come one, come all for a grand treat!"
Izuku couldn't see the man through the smoke, but judging by his demeanor, he was definitely a villain and the one who had caused the explosion. When the man started going on a long monologue about society, it became certain that he was a villain.
As the man was monologuing, the rabbit-eared girl mumbled under her breath, "Ugh, I hate his kind, talks too much," before looking down at Izuku. "Hey, if anyone asks, you mind saying you never saw my face?" she asked with a bright smile as she threw on the hood of her white jacket and then, without warning, she dropped him flat onto his back,.His body jerked as he felt his full weight slam against his tail. Too distracted by the pain, Izuku only saw his white-haired savior walking off in the direction of the smoke out of the corner of his eye, and from there, he only heard what happened next.
"You wanna try me, you little bunny?"
"Yup."
"Ha! You fool, let's—!" he never finished that sentence. The sudden gust of wind causes the smoke to flutter and twist, though not enough to dissipate it entirely. Over the whistling of the wind, Izuku could hear several thuds.
The cockiness in the villain's voice quickly dropped as he shouted out, "Ah! W-wait! WAIT!"
"Nah fuck that!"
"OW! Hold on! Stop, I didn't finish!"
"Come here!"
"Mercy!"
Wanting to see what was happening, Izuku quickly turned around, with the smoke dissipating only to see that the fight was practically over. The villain was already beaten with his hands over his head, shivering. Izuku had never seen a grown man on the ground crying like that before, and the girl wasn't done with him yet. She just kept kicking his helpless body while hurling insults at him with every kick.
"Stupid mother fucker! You talk way too much! Yet you weren't shit! And I'm NOT a damn bunny!"
Once she made sure the emasculated villain wasn't going to move anymore, she stomped on his back as a humiliating sign of victory before stating, "You're lucky I can't stay or else I'd kick your ass thirty more times!" Her ears perked up for a moment and then she dashed off, gone as quick as she had appeared.
Speechless from what he had witnessed, the fox boy stayed seated with a grin of excitement. He didn't know who that girl with bunny ears was, but in the short minute since they had met, she had left an impression on him he wouldn't dare forget anytime soon! His body was still tingling with exhilaration, despite missing all the action. Simply hearing how she took down that villain in a matter of seconds brought thrills! Her having an animal mutation-quirk made everything better as Izuku felt he could relate his condition with her. While his fox features weren't because of a quirk, it did give him a sliver of hope that someone with hybrid biology like him could still be strong.
When the sound of footsteps started approaching him, Izuku thought that he would meet a policeman. He had been expecting it to happen since the explosion and was already committed to keeping his silent deal with the mystery bunny girl. Instead, he came face-to-face with Katsuki. His friend's eyes dilated as soon as he saw the state Izuku was in, and for a moment his face expressed concern. His voice quivered a bit as he spoke his name.
"Izuku!"
"K-kacchan?" Izuku responded, stunned from both the Katsuki's unexpected arrival and from being referred to by his first name. Not even at home did he ever do that, always finding a way to go around it and secretly call him some mock name.
The blond paused for a moment, scanning Izuku up and down before asking. "Are you hurt?"
"N-no!"
"Can you stand?" he asked, hesitantly holding his arm out.
"Yeah, I can," the fox boy replied, getting up on his feet with no problem.
"Oh…" it was almost like a dream, seeing him sigh in relief.
He was extremely fortunate to come out of that explosion with nothing more than grazing scratches, and he began to think that maybe his luck wasn't so bad.
"It's ok Kacchan," Izuku assured him, "a villain attack happened here, but I was—"
Izuku was stopped mid-sentence by a massive force that exploded against his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying into the nearby brick wall. His stomach was on fire from the pain, the aches caused his body to tremble, and he was left gasping on the floor. Through his blurry vision, Izuku managed to see Katsuki standing in front of him, his bold red eyes looking down at him with unbridled anger. As the enraged blond stepped forward, he extended out his hand to the side, cracking each finger and causing tiny sparks to erupt from his palm that showed off his quirk. This was a new sensation of pain Izuku was feeling; he's been hit before and been hit harder by Katsuki on many different occasions, but never had it been this painful.
As Katsuki stomped closer he yelled, "WHAT THE EVER-LOVING FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"
Stunned by the sudden hit, Izuku couldn't speak, only propped himself up off the ground.
"I told you, 'no detours, straight home!' Why the fuck are you here?" Bakugo continued to yell at him through gritted teeth.
Still shaken to his core from getting hit, Izuku stammered, "I-I… I was just passing by to take a look and—"
"You fucking degenerate, you think I was born yesterday? You didn't just pass by, you're here because of your damn hero addiction! This is why I said straight home, but no, you and your god damn heroes! I'm SICK and TIRED of your fucking bullshit about heroes!"
Snapping his head to the side, Katsuki eyed the contents of Izuku's school bag that had been spilled on the ground from the explosion, spotting among them a specific book he remembered tossing earlier that day. The thing that helped foster Izuku's desire to be a hero, a single book most people would consider to just be a bunch of fan notes and Katsuki's wrathful eyes began focusing his anger on that damn book. With a new objective, the blond marched his way over to what he had set his eyes upon. It took Izuku a confused second to wonder why Katsuki's explosive rage had suddenly been turned away from him, and upon realizing what was directed toward instead made his heart sink.
Izuku stumbled to his feet, trying to protest against what he was going to do but another, smaller explosion erupted in front of him, knocking him back to the cold ground. All of his ears were ringing again. He grunted from the pounding sound echoing inside of his head before trying to get back up again. This time he didn't even get to his knees before he was stopped again, a pair of red eyes glaring coldly at him like they had those kids from before, and Izuku suddenly felt the strength in his legs leave him. He was left there, with trembling hands and frightened eyes, as he had to witness what happened next.
In a single motion, Katsuki swung his arm down to the ground, releasing an explosion bigger than either of the two he used against Izuku, and everything that was under his hand was obliterated.
The notebook, the one Izuku had dedicated countless hours to, the one he took the punishment for being tardy to school for, the one he would go to as many villain attacks as possible to record in, and the thing that made him think he was doing anything toward his dream, was gone. Its once-smooth white pages were now charred embers floating in the air, no different from the other smoldered objects that were in the area. Complete destruction, a favorite trademark of the blond.
"There, it's gone!" shouted Katsuki, turning back to Izuku with the same cold glare as before. "No more of this crap! Stop being a hero; you are not hero material and never will be! Your defective quirk is still underdeveloped at your age and causes more harm than good! You just have useless fox parts! You can't take care of yourself, you can't protect yourself, you probably don't even understand yourself, and you definitely don't understand your place in society, yet you still want to be a hero? If half your body doesn't even fucking work, then who the hell are you going to save?"
As the words got to him, Izuku's efforts to get back up lessened, staying on the ground as he endured the verbal assault.
"No one, that's who, so stop trying! You'll never save anyone, you won't even come close to helping anyone, you'll just get in the way and sit there like a baby like you are now! I'm the one who usually has to pick up after you; do you know how annoying that is? I quite literally cannot leave you alone to walk home so I can hang out with friends without you being stupid and getting yourself caught in something just to be saved by someone else! If you had listened to me for once, you would've been out of harm's way, but hey, you're not the one who'll get yelled at if something happens to you, right? That's probably why you don't have a bit of life perseverance, you fucking half-breed!
"I hate how much of an inconvenience you are to everyone around you! Every time it's one thing or another; do you not care about how your actions will affect others who are responsible for you? Probably not; you don't even care how much of a drag you are to your own mother!"
Izuku grabbed his own arms, his nails digging into his skin, almost puncturing it from the strength of his grip.
"If you're going to live such a worthless and pathetic life, then go somewhere else and do it. At least that way no one will have to deal with your crappy existence."
Silence encased the two boys after Katsuki's scolding and only the sound of a vicious growl broke it. Looking up from his seated position, Izuku's green eyes were sharp as they stared back into Katsuki's red ones, and his face became vexed from the blond's words. For a moment, he openly bared his sharp teeth, grinding them against each other, before standing straight on his feet, and showing Katsuki the full extent of his expression. His clenched fist shook from how angry he was.
Then suddenly Izuku ran off, his head hanging low the entire way before disappearing down the street. Seeing him run off didn't surprise Katsuki. He took three steps in the direction Izuku ran off in before turning around. His eyes constantly flickered between the two directions the street led before sighing to himself. "Fucking idiot." He turned back the way he came and went to go rejoin his friends.
Izuku didn't stop running until he reached an underpass, where he collapsed in the shade against a wall, his body was shaking. He hated what he was feeling at the moment, that special feeling of being a burden, the kind that makes one regret being born. People barely came this way, so it was a seclusive spot. It wasn't the first time he had been here in a similar situation.
The first time was when he was ten years old. He remembers that day too well.
It was like every other night that day, during the time they were staying with the Bakugos'. At the time Izuku would be a bit laxer about his fox tail and ears at home, mostly due to the constant encouragement Mitsuki gave him. She would exaggerate her interest in his features and often fawned over them whenever a chance presented itself, it gave him some assurance about his body. Izuku's mom thought Izuku was asleep in the room they shared since it was late when actually, like most young children, he was staying up playing the new video game he got. At one point when Izuku took a short break to go to the bathroom, he knew he had a valid excuse if he was asked why he's awake, a voice coming from the kitchen caught his attention. More specifically a line did, he didn't hear the entire conversation but by some string of fate he understood just one part of it.
"So Inko, what did the doctor say?"
Curious about this Izuku listened in, copying all the spy movies he watched and sneaking down the stairs quietly to listen. He had noticed some of his mother's health issues over the last two years but would never get a direct answer whenever any questions were asked, now she went to the doctor and he didn't even know she had an appointment. Being kept in the dark about the situation was daunting to the child and a golden opportunity to discover something just appeared, of course, he was going to listen in.
"It went…..as expected."
Mitsuki's voice could also be heard coming from the kitchen, "Does that mean it was the scarring?"
'Scarring?' Izuku thought, 'Is mommy hurt? I don't remember seeing her with a scar or getting hurt, except for a few times in the kitchen.'
"Yes it was, they said the internal scarring from my pregnancy was the cause of the pain and gave way for the infection."
"I'm guessing that means no more kids?"
"...They said the rate is extremely low if I tried. It's fine though, not like I had much of a plan to have another kid anyways. It was probably a blessing in disguise that we didn't try for a second kid, the doctor said if our second one also had those claws then my condition could've been fatal."
"I see, well don't worry about treatment. I can move around some stuff to help."
"N-no no, please you've done enough for these last few years. Honestly, I'm more concerned about how to keep all this from Izuku, I already lied to him about how he was born, it's going to be more difficult hiding why I-"
STEP
The room immediately went silent.
A jarred looking Inko would look to the entrance of the kitchen and see him looking back at her. Inko looked mortified seeing her son there and Mitsuki had a shocked expression on her face as her lips mouth the words 'oh no'. When a tear dropped off of his face, Izuku ran off with his mom calling out to him. The rest of his night was spent in the bathroom crying to himself.
The next morning he tried running away from home.
As the memories of the events that night reach a close, Izuku sighed, "Stupid Kacchan, that bastard should really watch what he says once in a while. What would he do if I actually did run away from home."
His head collided with his knees as he felt mentally exhausted from the whole thing. He tried to keep the light of his thought as to not stress himself out too much.
'Though to my knowledge, I guess he doesn't know that night happened. He was asleep at the time and Mitsuki seemed respectful to my family's privacy. He doesn't even know that I'm quirkless and that my fox limbs are just a mutation, I'm terrified how he'll treat me if he ever finds out. Probably worse….or maybe even better out of pity. No wonder he hates me, I hate me myself, I just burden everyone with my existence! Maybe I should just run away!'
Tears began streaming down his face again, he regretted being alive if his life was going to be a never-ending cycle of him leeching off of everyone around him. He clutched his chest, holding his father's memento through his shirt as he tried to be strong, he wished he could be what his dad said he was that day but he's not. He'll never be anything more than defective.
As the boy pondered on if he should run away or not, he felt something weird drip onto his shoulder. It was slimy as it dripped down, covering more and more of his body. Before he noticed how quickly this substance was spreading his entire right arm was covered in it. When he looked up to see where the dripping was coming from, he was met with a horrifying sight of a green slime creature with a creepy face falling onto him.
As the villainous creature continued to encapsulate him into its moldable body, Izuku was left screaming, thrashing around his arms in hopes to escape but with each second it became harder to move.
"Talk about a lucky break, sniveling gutter trash, my favorite!" The creature taunted, the distorted mouth it had created a chilling wide smile.
"Hel-" Izuku tried to scream out but the slime villain responded by covering most of his face, effectively silencing and suffocating him.
He couldn't speak, he couldn't even hear, he couldn't breathe, and he could only see through his right eye. The lack of oxygen made his head spin as he slowly lost consciousness, his arms and legs were bound to his sides, and his sight began to blur.
'I-is this...the end….?' Izuku thought, he started to lose all feeling in his body, 'But I didn't do...anything.'
His vision just happens to fall onto a mirror, as if the world was doing one last cruel act by letting him see himself slowly being taken by it.
'I've….only burdened people my whole life.'
'I burden my mom to the point where she can't remarry or have another child even if she tried, she no longer has much of a choice of what she wants to do now.'
'I burden the Bakugos by having them constantly care for me and my mom after the injuries I gave her, I can only imagine what they had to give up behind their smiling faces.'
'I burden Kacchan, even after everything he said to me, he always did look over me and still never let anyone else touch me. I….never got why he was like that if he was just going to do it himself…..'
'I've only….lived a life of...inconveniencing others.'
'What kind of hero does that?'
'I guess...that's why I was born the way I was…'
'It was fate saying to give up, I was never going to be something'
Steer your own life! To me, as long as you have a sliver of it left, you can do something with it and make it count!
Those words echoed in the boy's head right at the verge of him fainting.
'Controlling my life...making...something I do…count? Can I...really...do something like that?... Probably not...I'm too dependent on others….'
The thoughts of every time someone had to make an exception or go out of their way for him came up. As the last seconds of life was escaping from him, his tunnel vision got one last look of his eye through the mirror, his currently very sharp pupil.
'But…..'
He began feeling weird, was this death? His mouth felt like it was buzzing, his heart was pumping vigorously, and his right arm was shaking. It felt like his body was twisting itself apart.
'It's...the...possibility…that I can...is why-'
Almost as if his soul itself had grabbed his right arm, bringing it to life and with a frenzied strength managed to pierce through the villain's constraints around his hand. With the rest of his arm following he reached over to the part of his face that was covered by the slime villain and with one swift moment ripped off just enough to free parts of his nostrils and mouth. A searing pain spread across his face but he could breathe again, and with the little oxygen he had he howled at the top of his lungs.
"I WANT TO LIVE!"
He only had that short moment of freedom before the slime villain completely envelopes his weak body again, this time leaving no room for him to escape again. As a final taunt to make up for Izuku's short victory, the villain mocked him with a single word.
"Futile."
"NO, IT WASN'T! HE'S SAFE NOW SO HAVE NO FEAR!"
The slime villain quickly turned around, his eyes widening in fear after recognizing the voice.
"TEXAS SMASH!"
From beneath the deafening blob of ooze that the villain captured him in, he could only make out booming echoes of a mighty voice and the rush of raging wind before suddenly the cold claustrophobic feeling that encased his body disappeared in a second. For the third time today, he felt himself being blown off his feet but a lot gentler this time, like a graceful wind angel was kindly setting him down. With his vision getting a bit better he got a glimpse at his mysterious savior with the mighty voice, the blurriness of his vision prevented Izuku from getting a good look, making all he saw a big hulking man with a wide smile and blonde hair.
"WHY? BECAUSE I'M HERE!"
While his body regained the essential oxygen it needed, he slipped into an unconscious state that he welcomed. It was strange, he knew he was passing out yet, his body felt more awake than ever, like he had awoken from a long nap. A few seconds ago this feeling was feared as it meant his possible death, now he no longer had that fear because one thing was certain.
He was alive!