Chapter 21: Feral Instinct
Himiko swung her feet, bobbed her head side to side, and hummed loudly as she blatantly ignored the match that had followed the ice guy.
She didn't particularly feel bad that she wasn't watching because Izu wasn't paying much attention either. It was odd for her Izu not to be furiously jotting down notes as he observed quirks in action, but he was probably preoccupied with thoughts about his next match.
Himiko pouted but left him to his storm of muttering and anxious fidgeting.
After a quick kiss on his cheek, she made her way to the tunnel leading out into the halls. Himiko had noted over the last few weeks just how well-made most of U.A. was, and it seemed the stadium was no exception because just a few feet into the tunnel, a lot of the crowd's noise was muffled by the walls.
'I bet Izu hasn't even noticed something like that because he's too nervous.' Himiko giggled and skipped her way to the participant's tunnel. Maybe she could catch site of one of the last matches participants, and perhaps she'd get lucky enough to see a little blood.
Himiko shook her head at the thought. It was getting harder and harder to suppress her cravings.
When she was on her own, she could just indulge. She could stab a few gangsters, beat the crap out of some drug dealers, or get into fights over something even stupider. But now her only source of blood was Izu, and while she was happy with that, it was a big change going from being able to taste, touch, smell, and see blood whenever she wanted, to only when they were alone or with his family.
'Being a hero sure is hard, huh, Izu?' Himiko smiled but grimaced when her stomach turned in an odd way that made her vision swim with vertigo.
"W-What?"
Himiko staggered to put a stable hand on the cement wall next to her. What was happening? The only comparable sensation she had to this was when her parents had all but starved her of blood for years. But how was that possible? She hadn't been starved of blood. Sure, she wasn't exactly fully satiated with the small amounts of Izu's blood she was getting, and it had been a day or two since she'd gotten more. But how could the cravings feel this bad?
Maybe she just needed a little top-off. She could make her way back to Izu, tell him the problem, and he would give her a little blood. That thought made her stomach clench and filled her with a horrible dread.
"And just like that, Denki Kaminari has managed to secure his win, but not without managing to take a bit of a beating in the process! Could we please have the next contestants make their way to the arena?" The loud guy with the weird leather daddy cosplay and cockatiel hair yelled into the intercom system; his loud voice rattled her skull and nearly made her vomit.
Himiko grimaced. Would she be able to participate in her next match without blood? She hadn't gone through withdrawals while fighting someone in a long time. The last time had been two weeks after she'd left home, and that hadn't been pretty. She didn't kill the guy, but she had come very close. All the red, sticky blood had stained her clothes, and the aroma of iron and copper had driven her crazy.
Himiko could practically smell the alluring aroma of gore and spilled blood; her head was swimming with mental images of the beautiful red that always accompanied the smell, and her mouth started to water.
'No!' Himiko shook her head and slammed a palm into her temple so forcefully she thought she might have a concussion, 'get a grip!'
"Himiko Toga, please make your way to the arena in the next five minutes, or we'll have no choice but to assume you resign." The loud guy's voice didn't help the throbbing in Himiko's head, and she stumbled toward the arena entrance.
The roar of the crowd in the stands hurt her ears, started an uncomfortable pounding in her chest, and made her feel like a cornered animal. Her vision had sharpened, and she could observe the most minute details about the boy she would be fighting, even from her side of the platform. His glasses were pristinely polished, his uniform was carefully ironed, and she could see a slight tremble in his hands.
Himiko's mouth filled with saliva, and she had to suppress the urge to bear her fangs like a feral animal at the trembling boy.
"Just do your best, and try not to maim Izu's friend," Himiko muttered to herself.
"Excuse me?" Izu's friend with glasses looked at her very disapprovingly. That gaze reminded her very sharply of her parents and made Himiko break out into goosebumps that set her all the more on edge.
"N-Nothing, I was just talking to myself, Mr. Glasses." Himiko grinned hard, but it probably looked more like a grimace. Her heart was pounding; she felt like a rubber band about to snap like the slightest provocation would set her off.
"Well, despite your association with Midoriya, I must say you seem rather unstable." The boy held a hand up as if to stall anything she might say about that, "However, if Midoriya placed your safety before his very own life during the U.S.J incident, you must be very special to him. Because of your past, I was inclined to have a poor opinion of you, but because of recent events, I must say one thing."
The boy bent down and bowed.
"Thank you for also protecting Midoriya with your life during U.S.J. It was commendable, and I hope we can have a fair and even fight."
Himiko's eye twitched.
Why couldn't she get an asshole to fight like the shitbag that had bullied Izu most of his life? How unlucky could she be to good a decent opponent? Was it some kind of joke god was playing on her?
"What's this? It looks like we've got a gentleman in our midst! He's a guy who's well known for his speed and intelligence, but he's also got the chivalrous heart of a hero. From class 1-A of the hero course, it's Tenya Iida!"
The crowd's volume went up, and Himiko had to suppress the instinctive jerk her hand tried to make toward her real hidden knives.
'Don't throw knives at crowds of people. Don't throw knives at crowds of people. Don't throw knives at crowds of people.'
Himiko took a deep breath in and blew it back out to calm her nerves.
"Our other contestant, on the other hand, is a bit of an enigma! She only joined U.A.'s hero course recently, and that was with a recommendation from All Might himself! She's a girl you must recognize from the obstacle race because she was riding on Izuku Midoriya's back, and she was also covering his back with her deadly, accurate knife-throwing skills during the cavalry battle. From class 1-A, it's Himiko Toga!"
Himiko grimaced. Did that loud cockatiel have to announce to everyone that All Might had been the one to recommend her? It wasn't exactly inaccurate, but the only reason he did was for Izu's sake. She didn't want people to get the wrong idea, like some silly notion that All Might had seen potential in her or something. Her only potential was being really good at stabbing people, which wasn't exactly a hot commodity in the hero business.
"Hey, Mr. Glasses!" Himiko called to the guy by her nickname for him. She'd already forgotten what the cockatiel had called him.
"My name is Tenya Iida!"
She waved a dismissive hand, "Yeah, whatever. I think you should forfeit."
"E-Exuse me?! I will do no such thing! This festival is the stage in which aspiring heroes come to announce themselves to the world! To forfeit when I've been given a chance t—"
"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you right there," Himiko pinched the bridge of her nose. The boy had been loud, the roaring crowd was even louder, and the volume of his voice wasn't helping her pounding head, "I'm feeling terrible, and I can't guarantee your safety if you try to fight me."
Himiko half expected the boy to laugh or say she was crazy, but she was surprised when he just gave her a very serious look, "the purpose of these matches is to show our skill and reasoning during battles. I can assure you that even if you go out of control, this is a regulated fight; none of the judges would allow you to go too far. That being said, if you truly cannot trust yourself, then perhaps you should be the one to forfeit."
That really pissed her off. Who was this brat to tell her to forfeit? Was he serious? This fucking kid didn't know what a real fight was. Had he ever had to scrape by on the streets, never knowing where he would get his next meal or if he could safely fall asleep without being killed in the night? No, Himiko was sure this kid was pampered most of his life, and he probably hadn't had a truly hard day in all that time.
He didn't know what it was like to be called a freak his whole life, didn't know what it felt like to have his parents beat him, and he definitely didn't know what it was like to be overcome with the horrible urges a quirk like hers could induce.
Himiko glowered, and in an instant, something in her head shifted. She was a predator now.
"—kill you."
"Excuse me?" The prey was confused, and Himiko could barely hear the roar of the crowd anymore. Her every sense was focused on the person in front of her.
"Let's get this match started!" A voice called from overhead, and for a second, she had to suppress the urge to jump away from what she nearly perceived as a threat. But she could tell the only threat near her was the tall boy in front of her.
Himiko launched forward, and faster than the boy seemed to have expected, she was on him.
"W-What?!"
Himiko sprang from her low crouch, drew a knife out from her hidden belt, and aimed a deadly stab at the boy's left eye.
A sudden blast of air knocked Himiko backward, but she quickly recovered with a backward handspring and saw that her prey had managed to retreat to the platform's edge.
'Fast. Need to pin down.' Her animalistic thoughts thinned her already cat-like eyes to the tiniest of slits.
"What's this?! It looks like Himiko Toga is already pushing Tenya Iida to the limit and not giving him even a moment to think! Is it just me, or is this girl a little too familiar with knives, and I don't mean cooking folks."
That annoying voice grated on her nerves, and she suppressed the urge to throw a volley of knives at the speakers broadcasting it.
"What is the matter with you?! Are you truly so unhinged that you would attack a fellow student with a real blade?!" Her prey yelled, his voice trembling with the fear of death she had put in him.
She glowered at her prey.
"I do not think I can continue to allow this match to drag on. If it does, I fear one of us may get seriously injured." The boy crouched into a runner's stance, and the hairs at the back of her neck stood on end.
She didn't know why, but whatever he was doing was setting off alarm bells in her head.
"Recipro—" her eyes widened as a memory she vaguely recalled told her that her prey would be even quicker and could clear the distance between them in a matter of seconds. She tensed the muscles in her legs and sprang upwards. "Burst!"
Her prey shot underneath her, but her eyes managed just barely to follow him as he attempted a tackle. She used her upward momentum, pulled her knees toward her head, spun into a backflip, and slammed her feet down on his spine as she came down, knocking the air out of his lungs.
She let out a predatory growl. That was too easy. Why was every single person she fought so easy to take down?
Prey like this was no fun, but she would make it fun.
A voice called something out, but she didn't hear what it had said. She barred her fangs and went to tear her prey's throat out with her teeth, but something about the voice made her pause.
Izuku watched Himiko's fight with rapt attention, not just because it was his girlfriend and friend fighting but also because seeing how she moved was captivating. She circled like a hunting cat, her eyes followed her opponent wherever they went, and her graceful evasions were brutally efficient when combined with her takedowns.
She was also being dangerously aggressive. This was a side of Himiko that Izuku had never seen before. Sure, they had sparred countless times when he was training to enter U.A., and she had even been a bit rough when taking blood from him, but this was different. Himiko had put far too much force into her opening strike, and Izuku was sure she had intended to take Iida's eye out.
Izuku watched as Himiko slammed her feet down onto Iida's back, and as Midnight declared Himiko the winner, she did something odd. For a second, he thought she was stooping down to whisper something into Iida's ear, but then Izuku saw the glint of her sharp canines.
One for All rushed into Izuku's muscles, and he jumped from the participant's box as far as he could. With the force he had exerted, he should be able to land just a few steps away from where Himiko was looming over Iida. He hoped he would be fast enough with eight percent to close that small distance, but it might be close; Himiko was quick when she wanted to be.
As he braced for the landing, Izuku could see in slow motion that he would be too late. Himiko would rip Iida's throat out, and both their lives would be over, both literally and figuratively.
"Stop!" Izuku yelled through the cheers of the crowd. They hadn't caught on to what was happening, and even Midnight only looked mildly concerned as she saw Himiko wasn't backing off.
For a second, Izuku was sure he saw Himiko hesitate. In that instant, he had landed, rushed forward, and tackled her away from Iida.
"What's this?! Looks like Izuku Midoriya came down to give his girlfriend a celebratory hug! We get it, Casanova; you love your girlfriend! Why don't you take it somewhere else?!" Present Mic jeered over the loudspeaker, the volume vibrating Izuku's eardrums.
Himiko thrashed, but Izuku held her tightly and acted as if he were giving her a tight hug, "I'll do that!"
Izuku sped away from the arena and barely made it into a side corridor away from regular foot traffic. Just then, Himiko's teeth sank into his shoulder.
"Ahh!" Izuku bit back a scream as his back slammed into the wall, and he sank to the ground. Himiko was straddling him and drinking greedily. Her nails dug painfully into his sides as she locked her legs around his waist.
Izuku hesitated for a second, but he put a calming hand on her head and gently stroked her hair. For long, painful seconds, Himiko's jaw was locked in place, but slowly, she relaxed and let up on the force. She seemed to have realized he wasn't fighting her, and so she lapsed into quiet yet greedy gulps.
"It's okay, Himi-chan," Izuku stared up at the ceiling, trying not to let the lightheadedness get to him. He continued to stroke her hair, "I'm here."
Himiko's teeth slowly retreated from his shoulder, making Izuku wince, but he quickly schooled his features into a gentle smile when Himiko saw who she had been drinking from. She had tears in her eyes, and her heavy eyeliner ran in inky rivulets down her cheeks.
"Izu," Himiko sobbed, burying her face into his chest.
"Shhh, it's okay. I know you couldn't help it," Izuku hugged her tightly.
"I was afraid this might happen."
Izuku jumped and looked up to see All Might in his skeletal form, staring worriedly down at them, "A-All Might! It's not what you think!"
"Really? Because I think she just had a quirk-induced mental breakdown, went feral, and you barely stopped her in time from ripping young Iida's throat out."
"O-Oh… then it is what you think," Izuku let his head lightly thud into the wall behind him and let out a worried sigh, "please don't hold it against her; she's not used to fighting other people and taking it easy on them, and she hasn't been able to have a real fill of blood since before U.S.J."
All Might crossed his arms and frowned down at them, "That's just the problem, kid. The only reason she wasn't taken to prison was because of U.A.'s deal with the authorities, and that deal is that she attends U.A. as a sort of rehabilitation program. But if she goes around attacking her fellow students or constantly needs you to calm her down like that, then she's not really rehabilitated. And don't think I don't know how she's been skipping out on her mandatory therapy sessions with Recovery Girl."
Izuku was reeling. Himiko was supposed to be doing therapy with Recovery Girl, but she hadn't shown up for a single session. When had she been told to take them? Why hadn't she said anything to him?
Izuku shook his head. He would ask her later once she'd calmed down, but for now, he had to convince All Might that she would be alright. "I'll take her to Recovery Girl now, All Might. And I'll make sure she starts attending the sessions from now on; just please don't give up on her."
All Might stared down at the pair. Izuku was bleeding freely; his blood stained the gym uniform from the bite on his shoulder, and Himiko was huddled close, shivering against his chest.
"Very well, but be sure to listen for your match in case you don't make it back to the participant's booth." It seemed like All Might would leave, but he hesitated and turned back to them, "and if she doesn't improve, I must insist she withdraw from the sports festival. It's one thing to push yourself to improve and another to possibly put others in danger due to your own negligence."
Izuku watched All Might make his way toward the stairwell and only looked back down to Himiko when the number one hero was gone.
Her half-lidded yellow eyes stared up at him, "I'm sorry, Izu."
He gave her a strained and quavering smile. He would never get used to Himiko's tone when she was struggling with herself. It was like she didn't think she was allowed to be hurt or mentally scarred. Like she thought she was less of a person for not being alright.
Izuku took a breath in and stood with her in a bridal carry. He made his way to the infirmary. The silence between them was heavy and contemplative, but Izuku pressed her into his chest to let her know he wasn't upset with her. Himiko was the kind of person who didn't like her apologies to be dismissed. If she thought she needed to apologize, even if he didn't think she did, then it was better to accept the apology.
"You know it wasn't your fault, right?" Izuku didn't look down to see her face, partially because seeing her cry made him want to cry too, but also because he was afraid he might stumble and drop her if he wasn't paying attention.
Himiko was silent for a few seconds, but just when he caught sight of the infirmary, she whispered through bloodstained lips, "But it is my fault. You told me two days ago that I should keep taking blood from you like I used to, but I haven't been doing that. I thought I could hold out, but I couldn't even last two measly days. I almost hurt your friend, and I might have killed him if you hadn't stopped me."
Izuku frowned, "I just thought about something. How did you last so long without my blood after U.S.J? I mean, you went weeks without it, and nobody ever said something had happened when you didn't have blood."
"That's because I didn't have time to think about it, dummy. The first few days, I was unconscious and being treated, and when I finally did wake up, I was so worried about you that I couldn't think about anything else. But the minute I went back with you and Inko to your apartment… well, you saw how desperate I was." Himiko delicately gripped his shirt, her hands balled into the blood-stained fabric, and her tears pattered softly against the fabric, "it's only been two days, and I've already almost killed someone. You can see just how much my quirk really affects me. Honestly, I wouldn't blame you if you abandoned me right here and now to save yourself the hassle."
Izuku scoffed, getting an indignant look from the girl, "Don't give me that look, and don't tell me I'm better off without you. You risked your life for me at U.S.J., and even before that, you were an irreplaceable part of my life. Plus, you should know by now that I never take the easy way out of anything. Now let's get you in to see Recovery Girl."
Izuku fumbled clumsily with the sliding infirmary door for a few long seconds. It turned out that opening a door with a girl in your arms, who refused to help just because she found it funny, was more difficult than he thought.
"Good heavens! Is your quirk having all thumbs?" Recovery Girl opened the door and observed the pair. She looked very bewildered, and Izuku couldn't tell if it was because a boy covered in blood was holding a girl who looked completely fine or if she just hadn't expected to see the pair so soon in general, "oh dear, come in. Put her on the bed closest to my desk, take off your shirt, and sit down next to her on a stool."
Izuku hurried to put Himiko down carefully. Once she had been safely deposited onto the cool and crisp white sheets, he felt a sense of relief, and then that immediately gave way to a woozy lightheadedness that made him slam his butt down onto the stool next to her bed. His head swam as Recovery Girl bustled around them.
Himiko worriedly leaned over to cup his cheek, "Are you okay, Izu?"
He could see tears in her eyes threatening to spill again, and he couldn't help but chuckle, "I thought I was supposed to be the crybaby between the two of us."
"Izu," Himiko stared at him blandly, "I've seen you cry because there was one piece of rice left in your bento, and you couldn't pick it up with your chopsticks."
Izuku's face went red. He was about to defend himself, then he felt his body go cold, and his head started to swim as he nearly lost consciousness.
"Whoa there, sonny!" Recovery Girl had caught his shoulders with surprising strength. She started to help him remove the sports jacket and t-shirt he had been wearing, and he could hear a loud gasp from Himiko as she saw the bite she had caused.
Izuku both wanted and didn't want to see the damage she had caused. He'd seen the "love bites" she could leave on him, but the bite from earlier had been anything but that. It had been the bite of a feral animal with no emotion behind it other than the primal need to feed.
"H-How bad is it?" Izuku stammered, feeling the cold rubber of the nurse's hands, probing the raw flesh of his shoulder.
"Well, it isn't good. Honestly, it looks like you were attacked by an animal, except for one thing."
"What's that?"
"The blood isn't clotting at all. From the looks of these punctures, I would say this happened more than a few minutes ago. It should've started clotting by now, but it hasn't." Recovery Girl grabbed Izuku's face, shined a penlight in his eyes, and felt the pulse in his right arm, "I'd say you've lost at least a pint and a half of blood. Honestly, I have no idea how you carried that girl down here in that condition. Most adults are fine losing a pint or two, but you're a teenager and a small one at that."
"I-Is he going to be okay?" Himiko leaned over the side of her bed to get a better look at his shoulder, and for a second, he didn't know if it was out of worry or if she just wanted to see the blood. But then he saw the panic-streaked tears on her face, and he felt like a complete asshole.
'Of course, she's worried. She hates losing control like that, and she's worried about hurting me after what happened with those villains.'
Recovery Girl quickly healed his shoulder, and then Izuku was ushered to his own bed across from Himiko.
"Now get some rest; your match is quite a ways away. My quirk can't replace all that blood, but a good few minutes of sleep should help you nicely." Recovery Girl ignored his protests and just slammed his head back down into the pillow when he tried getting up, "Now don't make me say it twice, and get some rest. Otherwise, I'll have to come back and put you to sleep."
Izuku stared up at the little old lady, bewildered at the strength she'd had in just one arm, "Y-yes, ma'am."
He sat back, determined to stay awake so he could reassure Himiko, but before long, his neck and shoulder's throbbing subsided, and he fell into unconsciousness.
Himiko stared at Izu's peaceful face; his chest rose and fell, and his lips parted slightly as heavy sighs left him. It had been a while since she'd seen him sleeping so soundly. She'd seen him in his hospital bed weeks ago, but that hardly counted when the reason had been so terrible, and his face had been so horribly bruised.
"You care about him a lot, don't you?"
Himiko jumped slightly, the crisp white sheets crinkling as she balled her fists into them. She looked over and was startled she had forgotten about the nurse.
"Y-Yes." Himiko stared sadly at Izu's curly mop of green hair, his round freckled cheeks, and the way his mouth parted slightly as he breathed in, "he's all I have."
The nurse studied her for a long few seconds before she spoke," If you really care about him so much, you should take your own mental health more seriously." Himiko glowered at the woman, "Don't give me that look, young lady. You know fully well how much he cares about you, so is it really something to get so worked up about when I say he cares about your well-being as much as his own? Besides, you don't want a repeat of what happened out there today, do you?"
"N-No." Himiko looked down at her hands; they were still covered in Izu's blood. Had she really taken so much from him? She couldn't remember anything after the fight had started until she found herself wrapped around Izu, and her teeth were in his flesh.
She shuddered.
"Then would you mind if I ask a few questions and maybe run a few tests to see what caused your… episode?"
Before Himiko could answer, the nurse was already at her bedside, a notepad in hand and a stethoscope in her ears as she pressed it to Himiko's chest.
"What thoughts were going through your head just before your match? Were you thinking about seeing that boy's blood? Or did you have something else on your mind? How often do you take blood from Midoriya-san, and how much? When did you start taking blood from him, and why?"
Himiko's head swam. She couldn't keep track of all the questions but then tried to answer the best she could, "I… was thinking about how he'd probably never had a hard day in his life. I thought about how he'd never had to survive on the streets, had to fight for his life, and how he never had to worry if he'd be able to stay alive if he fell asleep in the wrong place."
"Hmm," the nurse hummed, but she didn't say anything. She just continued to listen to Himiko's heart, making a motion as if to encourage her to keep answering.
She had to wrack her brain to remember the questions. "I wasn't thinking of seeing his blood specifically. When I left the participant's booth, I was thinking of seeing blood in general. More specifically, I was hoping I would be able to see some from the previous match."
"So it wasn't so much that you wanted to make someone bleed yourself, but that you wanted to see the blood even if it wasn't you that made the person bleed?"
"Yeah, that sounds right." Himiko fidgeted. She'd never talked so much about her habits with someone, and it felt wrong somehow. Like she should be telling this to Izu, but she'd never brought up her urges with him in so much detail.
"Alright," the nurse said, pulling the stethoscope away. She jotted down a few notes on her notepad and then motioned for Himiko to keep going.
"I used to take blood from Izu every day, but…"
"But?"
"But after what happened at the U.S.J., I just… can't." Himiko could feel a familiar sting in her eyes, and she had to suppress the urge to cry," he was so hurt, and it was horrible seeing him like that. It reminded me of—"
She bit back a sob as she finally realized what she had mentally associated Izu with in that moment.
'The bird.'
The old woman scooted forward a bit and put a comforting hand over Himiko's, "If you can't say it, don't force yourself, but so long as you keep things like this bottled up, you'll always be tortured by it."
Himiko took a shaky breath in and blew it out, "When we were young, and I had first met Izu, our parents let him come over to my house to play. We'd been playing just outside in my backyard when something fell in front of us. It was a little brown and white sparrow. Its feathers were stained red, and it was barely breathing. Most kids would pick it up, run to their parents, and try to help it. But I just wanted to see more of its blood 'that pretty color' I called it."
The nurse listened politely; she didn't look the slightest bit put off by Himiko's admission or the tiniest bit judgmental. She just listened and squeezed Himiko's hand.
"And then suddenly I had a thought,' what does that pretty color taste like?' before I knew what I was doing, I was raising the bird to my face. I can still feel the air against my tongue as I opened my mouth, taste the iron in the air as I got closer with my teeth, and smell the rusty scent of blood as I came oh so close to savoring my first victim. But Izu pulled it away from me before I could." Himiko smiled and stared lovingly at the boy across from her.
"You weren't mad that he pulled it away from you?"
Himiko shook her head, "No. I was just confused, but then he did something that confused me even more." Himiko mimed the way Izu had held his arm up to her that day, "He said, 'It's not the bird, but I've got that color in me, so taste it all you want.'"
She giggled, and a soft smile broke out on her face. "How cheesy, right? I was so confused back then. But I listened to him, and for a little while, it was the single most important moment in my life. Then my mom found us. She was screaming, asking how I could do such a thing to Izu, and saying how she'd have Dad set me straight when he got home." Himiko grimaced, "He set me straight alright."
Memories of being locked in the garden shed, of her hands and feet being tied together so she couldn't escape, and of her father hitting her with a belt surfaced, making her shudder. She'd spent days locked in that shed; her only source of warmth in the night was the memory of Izu and the taste of his color.
"You mentioned this memory was the reason why you can't take blood from Midoriya-san as frequently anymore. I'm assuming you had some mental image in your head of him being this infallible, larger-than-life figure, but after the U.S.J., you can only see him as that bird: small, hurt, and vulnerable. Am I right?"
Himiko just nodded mutely.
"Well, that's good."
Her head jerked up to stare at the old woman in astonishment, "how is that good?! I keep thinking even the smallest thing from me could hurt him."
"Toga-san, it would be far worse if you kept taking blood from him as if it couldn't hurt him at all. You thought he was above it all; for you, he was the very personification of strength and hope, but you're realizing that he isn't. You're slowly coming to see that he's a person, just like you." The old woman smiled softly and squeezed Himiko's hand again, "does that make you care about him any less?"
"O-Of course not! But I keep getting this pit in my stomach every time I think about taking blood from him. Like if I do it, he'll die just from me taking a little."
"Well, that's perfectly normal. That is a normal person's reaction to someone they care about deeply being hurt, even a little. You worry about them, try to keep them safe, and when you're the one who hurt them, you make yourself feel terrible." She smiled kindly, stood from the stool she had been sitting on, and moved to leave Himiko to her rest, "just think about what we've talked about, and try to get some rest."
The nurse shuffled away, leaving Himiko with her thoughts and the steady puffing breaths Izu let out while he was sleeping.
Chapter 22: Fiery Determination and Icy Abstinence
A little girl sat in front of Izuku. Her sunny blonde hair was pulled up in two messy buns, and she grinned down at a little bird. The thing was small and hurt, but her teeth were poised to sink into the bird's tiny body.
"No!" Izuku ran forward to stop her, but his body moved so slowly it felt like he was wading through wet concrete. His hand, which had been just an arm's length away before, was now yards away from stopping her.
Her lips parted, and gleaming white fangs peaked out from between them. Trails of saliva connected her top and bottom canines, and Izuku could tell she was anticipating the taste of the tiny bird's blood.
Izuku was horrified to see her teeth inching slowly forward. He struggled and struggled, pushing his limbs to move with great effort, and finally, he made it. Izuku had managed to cup his hands around the bird, stopping the girl.
He let out a sigh of relief but didn't know why he had been so frantic in the first place.
Izuku's world lurched; he was on his side, and suddenly, he felt a sharp sting in his throat. The girl had sunk her teeth into his neck. His blood drained slowly at first, but then the rush of his life essence sped away from him and into her. He was getting woozy, his eyes felt heavy, and as he looked up to get one last look at the girl's face, he saw it.
It was a face so horrible and so hateful that he wanted to look away. But he couldn't find the strength to move anymore, and Izuku was horrified at what he was forced to see.
A man with tangled and greasy chalk-white hair stared down at both of them, his red eyes barely visible through the fingers of a severed hand. His eyes were crinkled, and Izuku immediately knew that the man was grinning down at him.
He was happy that the girl was killing Izuku.
Just as he felt himself slipping away, something stirred in Izuku's hands, and all at once, he remembered the bird he had saved.
He let his hands fall open, and the small sparrow flew away.
.
.
.
.
BOOM!
Izuku shot awake, his hands scrambling to stem the flow of blood he knew had to be spilling from his neck. But his hands came back clean and unstained.
He looked around and remembered where he was 'the nurse's office.'
Izuku was startled when he spotted a pair of predatory yellow eyes observing him from the bed across from him. For long seconds, he forgot that the dream wasn't real, and he felt the animalistic instinct to run.
Then, his brain's fog cleared away, and he remembered his girlfriend. He saw that Himiko was just as startled as he was by the noise. The room shook, and trails of dust rained down from the ceiling.
"W-What the heck was that!" Izuku threw his covers away from himself and sprang from his hospital bed to Himiko's side.
"I-I don't know," she stretched her arms out to grab his shirt but hesitated when he flinched away for a moment, "I'm sor—"
Izuku grabbed her hands and pushed them into the fabric of his shirt, "no, I'm sorry. I let a dream get to me, but I'm fine now. Maybe we should go see what that was. That is, as long as you're up to it."
She hesitated again, but Himiko let a smile spread halfway across her face. It was a dim shadow of her usual smiles that he had come to love and look forward to, but it was a start. Izuku helped her to her feet, and he held her hand as they made their way out of the nurse's office.
Recovery Girl called after them, "Think about what we talked about. You hear, young lady?"
Izuku looked back, puzzled.
Himiko paused for a moment but kept walking, dragging Izuku along as she hurried away from the infirmary.
The noise the crowd was making was so intense that it nearly floored the pair. When they finally made it out to the exit of one of the participants' tunnels, Izuku thought the world was ending. Dust and debris fell from the sky, chunks of smoldering stone fell in heavy thuds, and a huge plume of smoke billowed out in an umbrella, nearly blacking out the open roof of the stadium.
When he looked closer, Izuku was shocked to realize the epicenter of the smoke was Kacchan, his arms raised to the sky and a feral grin on his face. Uraraka was glaring daggers at him in a way Izuku had never seen before, and her breath came out in ragged huffs.
"What the hell was that?" Kacchan glowered at Uraraka, but his snarl of a grin never wavered, "That was the kinda shit that goddamn nerd would pull."
Izuku frowned, and then he scanned the arena. Slowly, he pieced together what Uraraka had done. The blast patterns in the arena were all suspiciously close to Kacchan, and it looked like he'd barely moved from where he'd started the match. Long furrows of destroyed ground made it clear to him that Uraraka had rushed him over and over again.
But why?
Izuku then remembered the raining chunks of stone.
'She used Kacchan to make objects that she could float, and then she used all the smoke and dust to hide when she sent the debris up into the air!'
He had to hand it to her that wasn't a bad idea at all, and against most normal opponents, it would work.
'But Kacchan isn't a normal opponent. She didn't consider how big of an explosion he could make without his gauntlets.'
"Whatever," Izuku looked back down to see Kacchan and Uraraka facing off, "you don't look like you're dead yet! This is where the fight really starts!"
Kacchan was readying himself to throw more blasts Uraraka's way, and she was mid-stride, ready to approach Kacchan with even more resolve.
"It's over," Himiko looked down and gripped Izuku's hand tighter.
"Huh? What do you mean, Himiko? It's over?" Izuku looked away from the fight to look at his girlfriend, but just as he did, he heard a thud from the arena.
Uraraka was down, and Kacchan looked just as surprised as Izuku that she was.
Midnight leaned over the girl, held up a staling hand at Kacchan, and then she looked up, "Uraraka is unable to continue! The winner i—"
Present Mic cut Midnight off with a loud shout, "The winner is Katsuki Bakugo!"
Midnight glared up at the announcer's booth for a second, but she quickly called over a team of medical robots to cart Uraraka away to Recovery Girl.
Izuku wished he could have seen the start of the fight so he could see Uraraka's plan in real-time, but he would have to settle for online videos later. Right now, he needed to consider a strategy for Todoroki since he hadn't been able to do so while he was sleeping. There was a lot he had to consider in his match, and he silently was glad he wouldn't need to deal with the boy's flames.
Even if the idea of Todoroki thinking he could beat everyone in this tournament with half his power pissed him off to no end.
"You're up next," Himiko whispered. Izuku had nearly missed her tiny voice over the roar of the crowd.
He smiled down at the girl but was worried to see that she wasn't smiling, not even a little. In fact, she looked terrified.
"Himi-chan? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"You shouldn't fight him."
Izuku blinked owlishly at that, "huh? I mean, I know Todoroki is strong and all but—"
"That isn't the reason!" Himiko grabbed the front of Izuku's shirt and yanked him down to stare into her eyes, "I know you. You're not just going to fight him. You'll do something stupid, like trying to convince him to use his fire side, or you'll do something even dumber and end up breaking an arm or a leg! Well, I won't let you."
Her grip tightened, she hooked her leg behind his, and in an instant, she had him pressed into the ground on his back. Her mouth was dangerously close to his throat, and it reminded him horribly of the dream he'd had.
"Himiko, I have to do this."
She glared down at him, and Izuku thought it looked a lot like her focused hunter face when they sparred. This wasn't exactly that, but the look was startlingly close. It was focused but also protective and worried as if she didn't know if she should be angry or upset.
"You don't have to do anything. So the guy has daddy issues. Who doesn't?! I do. You do. Almost everyone does!"
Izuku frowned, "I don't have daddy issues." Himiko gave him a very "whatever you say, honey" kind of look that made him all the more defensive, "what?! I don't!"
"Izu, you grew up worshipping the ground All Might walked on, watched every single video about him, filled your room with all of his merchandise, and you nearly have an aneurysm every time you see him in costume. If that isn't you subconsciously filling your dad-shaped hole in your heart with him, then I'm a flamingo."
"No, apparently you're a therapist," Izuku grumbled under his breath.
"Well, if I can point out something so obvious, I'm sure you'd hate to hear what an actual therapist has to say."
They both stared at one another for a few long, drawn-out seconds. The loud chatter of the crowd filled the silence, but it didn't ease the tension in the air between them even a little. Izuku stared up unblinkingly at Himiko, and she stared right back.
"Will the participants of the next match please make their way down to the arena?! I repeat, will the participants for the next match please make their way down to the arena?!"
"Himiko…"
"I'm not letting you go down there. Not if you're just going to end up hurting yourself."
Izuku sighed and let his head rest against the tile beneath him, "fine. If I promise not to hurt myself more than in a regular match, then you'll let me go?"
She seemed to turn that over in her head, and then her toothy grin came back in full force, "I think I can live with that. But just so you know, if you're lying to me," her grin turned sinister, "I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life."
With that threat hanging over Izuku's head, Himiko sighed, stood to her feet, and pulled him up to his own feet.
Himiko smiled sweetly, and it was a look that made him shudder, "w-what'll you do if I don't keep that promise?"
Her smile turned all the sweeter, "how about you do it and find out."
"I-I'm good," Izuku slowly made his way out onto the grass that ringed the middle arena, but he stole a single glance back at Himiko.
That proved to be the wrong idea because she hadn't moved even an inch from where she had been standing, and her face was still set into a serene smile. But her eyes weren't smiling at all. It was as if her eyes were saying, "If you get hurt, I'll kill you."
Izuku shuddered and hurried up onto the platform.
'She's so scary when she wants to be!'
Todoroki was already in the arena, his ever-icy glare boring a hole through Izuku. But that glare was nothing compared to Himiko's stare.
Izuku set about stretching his joints to alleviate the anxiety he felt. He threw his arms over his head, stretching to the left, then to the right. He crouched and stretched his right leg out to loosen the joints, and then he did the same with the left. Todoroki seemed even angrier, as he obviously thought Izuku wasn't taking this seriously.
'Of course, I'm taking this seriously! If I didn't stretch before using One for All at eight percent, I'd die of muscle cramps!' Izuku stood to his feet, twisted his torso, and sighed when his back popped pleasantly.
"Are you done yet?" Todoroki was definitely pissed off. His voice was a cold monotone that practically shouted he wouldn't take Izuku seriously if Izuku himself didn't take Todoroki seriously.
"I think I'm good," Izuku relaxed his body, let the eight percent of One for All he could handle spread through his body, and then prepared himself for his opening move.
'Most likely, he'll try to freeze me like he did Sero. If I can dodge his big opening move, I should have a small window where he'll have to recover from overusing his ice.'
"Well, isn't this an interesting matchup, folks?! We've got the winner of the first match, Izuku Midoriya, facing off against everyone's favorite to win the whole sports festival, Shoto Todoroki! These two have been standouts from the very beginning. While we haven't seen much from Izuku Midoriya, aside from his early display of mobility during the obstacle race, I'm sure this'll be a match to remember. Now, what do you say, folks? Should we get this party started?!"
The crowd burst into a wall of sound, and Present Mic managed to somehow roar over them, "Alright! Then let the match… BEGIN!"
Immediately, a wall of ice shot toward Izuku.
'I knew it!'
His legs tensed, and Izuku shot over the encroaching iceberg before it could fully cover his jumping distance and block him off. With the speed at which Todoroki was releasing his ice, Izuku was willing to bet he wouldn't have full control over how or where it spread. So he planted his feet into the wall of ice, and before Todoroki could think to freeze his feet down, Izuku shot straight for the boy in a forward tackle.
'One.'
Todoroki retreated quickly, but his right side was sluggish and covered in hoarfrost.
'Two.'
Izuku caught up to the retreating boy, managed to grab Todoroki by the collar of his shirt, and threw him toward the pillar of ice he had used as a springboard.
'Three.'
Todoroki flew toward the pillar of ice, and as he approached, he spoke, "Well, I guess you are taking this seriously." A small flood of snow rushed past Todoroki, creating a cushion that he used to soften his impact. The boy stood to his feet and brushed a bit of ice off of his pants, "I guess I'll put in some effort."
Izuku had to consciously stop his eye from twitching in annoyance at that.
Instead, he ignored Todoroki and set about doing something he was sure would backfire somehow, "three seconds."
"What?" Todoroki's face hadn't changed; he still looked sharply focused, but Izuku had gotten his attention.
"About three seconds is how long you have before you can safely use your ice after overusing it. You probably wouldn't usually have that problem, but you aren't using your left side, not even to melt the ice buildup on your body." Izuku could see the other boy's eyes narrow, and he silently cheered for his borderline quirk obsession and its helpfulness in times like this.
"Knowing that won't help you. You can clear the distance in those three seconds, sure. But what can you do in that amount of time? You can't keep attacking me; I'll just freeze you if you stay too close. You can't keep throwing me; I'll just keep breaking my fall, and you'll get tired eventually. So what could you possibly do in three seconds?"
Izuku winced. He wasn't exactly wrong, and even if Izuku could get a few blows in, they would be useless if Izuku couldn't knock Todoroki out in those few hits.
"I can do this!" Izuku sprang forward, but a stream of ice rushed for him, forcing Izuku to make a wide right turn around Todoroki.
It was frustrating, but Izuku had to hand it to the boy; his defense was superb. If only Izuku could control more of One for All so that he could use air pressure like All Might did, then the boy's ice would be easy to deal with.
'Kacchan would have an easy time dealing with the walls of ice, so long as Todoroki couldn't freeze his sweat glands shut anyway.'
Thinking about Kacchan gave Izuku the idea that he could use debris like Uraraka had in her fight, but then how would he make it? Todoroki's ice wasn't exactly destructive like Kacchan's explosions, so using his quirk against him wouldn't work. If Izuku had something to protect his fists, he would be able to break up the ground himself, but with just bare hands, he would only manage to break his own bones. Kicking would be just as ineffective without steel-toed shoes, but then he remembered something Himiko had taught him.
"You know what the best parts of the body to hit people with are, right?"
"Uh, the fists and feet?"
Himiko stomped the heel of her foot down on his toes, and when Izuku was jumping up and down, she jabbed her elbow into his ribs, knocking him over, "the elbows and heels of the feet are very sturdy parts of the human body. The elbows can deliver a very precise amount of force in a targeted area, and while you can't get as much momentum with elbow strikes as you can with punches, you also won't need to worry about breaking or spraining a finger. The same applies to the heels of the feet regarding strikes, except you can get more range of motion with them as opposed to the elbows."
Izuku had been driven to the edge of the arena and was steadily noticing the buildup of ice on Todoroki when he started to formulate a plan.
He rushed forward again.
"This again? When will you learn your lesson?" Another wall of ice shot toward Izuku, but this time, he didn't jump to avoid it; he jumped straight at it.
The ice was rushing quickly, but not as fast as Todoroki's opening attack had been. Clearly, using so much ice right off the bat and having to keep using more without heating himself up was slowing him down.
Izuku took a page from Himiko's book, turned midair into a backflip, and then, when he had reached full rotation, slammed the heel of his foot down on the ice wall. Shards of ice exploded outward, pelting Todoroki and making him raise an arm to protect his face.
"I learned my lesson, but clearly, you haven't learned anything!" Izuku landed on his feet, winced slightly as his heel touched the ground, but kept advancing on Todoroki through the pain, "I won't give up! Not even if it seems impossible."
"You crazy—" Todoroki backpedaled as Izuku approached, throwing more ice at him.
Izuku just plowed through the walls and small trails of ice he was trying to trap him with. Izuku could practically hear Himiko yelling at him, saying he was an idiot for trying to brute force his way through this like All Might. But trying to outsmart Todoroki would only help play into his strength. Someone like Todoroki was rational and could formulate plans to keep close-range enemies at bay with his ice, but Izuku was willing to bet he rarely fought against people who would just break through it and rush in head first.
Izuku grimaced, 'This feels like something Kacchan would do, but sometimes not thinking is the right thing to do.'
Of course, this plan would only work for Izuku so long as Todoroki didn't throw something out as powerful as his opening move. But with Izuku constantly attacking, it would be a war of attrition. Would Todoroki collapse from frostbite, or would Izuku's muscles unravel from the continued strain of One for All at eight percent?
That was the question, and Izuku was slowly approaching his limit. Todoroki, on the other hand, looked a bit frostbitten. Overall, his body was in better shape than Izuku's, and they both knew it.
"You're insane!" Todoroki backpedaled, but when he saw Izuku had pushed him to the edge of the arena, he stood his ground, his hands held up with his palms open.
"And you're not running anymore!" Izuku rushed forward, lashing out with a quick, straight jab at Todoroki's face.
When Izuku was sure his fist would land, Todoroki did something he hadn't been expecting. He somehow managed to push his right palm into the side of Izuku's fist, then wrap his left hand around Izuku's wrist and use his momentum to turn and throw him back into the middle of the arena.
'What the?!' Izuku flipped and landed on his hands and knees, skidding to a stop ten feet away from Todoroki. He stared bewildered at the boy.
"What? Did you think I wouldn't have any close-combat experience? What kind of idiot do you take me for?"
Izuku slowly stood and was concerned to see that Todoroki's frost buildup was slowly diminishing.
'I need to close the distance before he recovers enough to throw a huge attack.' Izuku rushed forward again.
One step.
Two steps.
He would reach Todoroki in just one more lunge, and this time, he would be expecting the boy's reflexes.
Three—
A wall of ice shot up toward Izuku, but this wasn't like the previous ones; it seemed Todoroki had recovered enough for another huge attack. Izuku could see the ice rushing forward. Reaching for him so that he would be entombed and immobilized like Sero had been earlier.
But the worst part was that Todoroki was already turning his back.
Izuku grit his teeth, "Don't look away from an opponent before you know for sure you've won!"
Before Izuku knew or could think to stop what he was doing, One for All had rushed into his arm at full strength, and Todoroki's ice was blasted apart.
The pain nearly blinded Izuku. His arm felt like it was being ripped apart, cut into a million pieces, and burned all at once. The bones in his fingers were shattered; his arm had somehow managed not to be bent out of shape, but the bones were definitely in pieces.
Izuku staggered backward, clutching his right shoulder; the skin was a mottled patchwork of black and purple bruises, "d-did I w-win?"
"That was more powerful than I expected."
Izuku froze and stared open-mouthed at Todoroki, who had erected a thick wall of ice between himself and the gale-force winds Izuku had made.
Izuku grit his teeth, 'Seriously? That didn't catch him off guard somehow!'
"I'll admit you nearly had me, but you need to remember. I'm stronger than you."
Izuku grimaced, both at the boy's nonchalance and the pain in his arm. But something didn't feel right. Something in Todoroki's tone was off. But what was it?
Izuku powered through the pain and did what he did best. He analyzed Todoroki.
'He used that large attack after barely recovering enough to use it. He already had a buildup of frost that had been slowing him down. He was caught off guard by my surprise attack, but he was still able to protect himself with a thick wall of ice. But then what did I hear in his voice that made me hesitate?'
Izuku looked closer, and then he smiled. It wasn't one of his "I'm scared shitless" kind of smiles. It was a feral smile that he was sure looked closer to the ones Kacchan often had.
"Todoroki, how could you be standing there gloating so much when you haven't managed to land a single blow on me?"
Todoroki's eye twitched, "look at yourself. I don't need to land a blow. You've almost managed to knock yourself out of this fight."
Izuku laughed, "You're one to talk. You're trembling, Todoroki, and I have a feeling it has something to do with that." Izuku pointed to the nearly inch-thick ice buildup all along Todoroki's right side and even some of his left.
He just glared.
Izuku rushed forward; this time, Todoroki was too slow to put up a defense. Even with one arm broken, Izuku was stronger than Todoroki physically at eight percent. And so it came as no surprise when Izuku started beating the crap out of Todoroki.
A large swing to the right of Todoroki's face. A sideways kick to his left side. A straight jab into Todoroki's nose.
"What's the matter with you?! Are you giving up?! Just because something you weren't expecting to happen came up during a fight? What kind of hero gives up just because of that?!"
Izuku grabbed Todoroki by the collar and slammed his forehead into Todoroki's nose.
*Crack*
'Was that his nose or my skull?'
Todoroki stumbled backward and fell to one knee, clutching his bleeding nose.
"You half-assed bastard! Do you think you can win this without using your full power?!"
Todoroki glowered through his watering eyes, "did my old man put you up to this? What? Did he offer to pay you if you could get me t—"
Izuku rushed forward and kneed Todoroki in the face, "I don't give a shit about your dad! This isn't about him! This isn't about any of that. This is about you disrespecting all the others who are giving it their all to win this tournament! You haven't been taking this seriously this whole time. You've just been running around with half your power, thinking that's good enough to beat every single one of us. But look at yourself, Todoroki! You said I'm weaker than you, and I've got you on your ass, bleeding and bruised, ready to just give up."
Todoroki glowered up at Izuku from his crouched position, "I don't care how battered I get. You can punch me, kick me, beat me half to death, but I refuse to use that bastard's quirk!"
"IT'S YOUR POWER, NOT HIS!" Izuku glared right back at Todoroki, and he could swear that just for a second, the other boy's eyes shone with a fervent light as if he had been waiting to hear that his whole life. And then an eruption of light nearly blinded Izuku.
Todoroki rose to his feet, steam pouring off of his body as the ice evaporated under an intense heat. Flames licked the boy's left side, and trails of ice erupted out of his right, melting as quickly as they formed.
"Shotoooooooo!" Izuku could barely hear the shout over the jet-like roar of Todoroki's flames, "So you've finally accepted it! Yes! Excellent! It all starts now for you! With my blood pumping through your veins, you will surpass me… you will fulfill my ambitions!"
The stadium seemed to go silent at the event going on, and of course, that was the moment Present Mic thought to chime in, "I guess that's meant to be a pep talk from the number two hero Endeavor to his son. What a doting father."
Izuku's feral smile increased even further as he took in Todoroki, and he was sure that he looked deranged with his broken arm. "Incredible."
"I don't know why you're smiling. Only a moron would willingly goad an opponent into doing something that would give them an advantage over him."
Izuku let the smile drop from his face as he readied his left arm. If he was going to go all out against Todoroki, he needed to do it with an unbroken limb. He would only get one chance to deliver a full-force attack with One for All, and it needed to be with a limb that was as undamaged as possible.
"Well, whatever. Don't blame me for whatever happens next." Todoroki crouched and held his arms out for a two-pronged attack that would bring to bear the full force of both his fire and ice.
Izuku mirrored his crouch and cocked his arm back for another full-force strike of One for All.
Izuku couldn't hear anything anymore. Not the roar of Todoroki's flames, the crackling of his ice, or the roar of the crowd. All he could hear was the rush of the blood in his ears and the pounding of his heart.
Both boys lunged forward. All Izuku could see was a wall of cement that briefly obscured them from one another. Then, they were plowing through it and meeting in the middle.
The air around them grew hotter than any desert, colder than any snowstorm, and windier than any hurricane.
Izuku thought one thing, and then he blacked out, 'Himiko is going to be so pissed.'