Good day/night my poppets
This month has been real busy, of course I'm prepping for the new year to come, and I can't wait to share it. Those updates will be shared on my Tumble Page.
I have more projects coming in as well. But for now just kick back, and enjoy the chapters.
CHAPTER 90: Quality time with Katsuki
If you walked on UA grounds and went to Ground Theta, you would think you were entering a live minefield in the middle of being set off. Smoke was visible in the air on the mountainside, and if you got closer, you would clear the noise. The roars not from any animal but a very determined predator.
And that was how Katsuki Bakugou endured his first personal training session with Sakura Haruno.
He didn't realize from their first encounter that she would become the bane of his existence. Standing in front of him at every turn, every milestone he managed to hit, she would be there with her back turned, five steps ahead.
But it was because of her that he always found the strength to push himself beyond his limits. While he didn't want anyone else to get ahead of him, like Izuku and Shouto, Katsuki had to admit that he was lagging behind that girl. The problematic enigma that she was. While he was determined not to be beaten by anyone here, when it came to Sakura, Katsuki did something he truly despised. Comparing.
He was watching her before he knew what he was doing, and it disgusted him, because he felt like he was mirroring Izuku's observant tendencies.
How quick was she to complete an exercise? Why did her sleep patterns seem so crappy, yet she was always energized every day? How did she eat a large bowl of ramen during lunch and still manage to reach the top of the climbing wall before anyone else?
When she was gone, he thought about her. When she was here, he thought about her.
And now she was in on one of the biggest heroes' secrets with him and Izuku. Yet, she behaved as if it meant nothing.
The fact that Izuku Midoriya was given the power with the intent to take the position as the number one hero of their generation. A position that the rest of the world was debating handing to her, someday, calling her the next All Might, when she defeated the villain that had been clashing with the users of that quirk and had been so entangled with. She seemed to drop out of nowhere to fix whatever mess they were in, and leave without charge.
As if she was saying, there was nothing they had to offer her.
Even so, he had approached her for this chance. He did it in the most contentious manner, placing his demands out before even asking (which he didn't even really do either). He warned her, he wanted someplace private where neither Jiro nor Shouji could pick up on their arrangement. He also didn't want Izuku to know about when or where they were training, and he refused to work together with Izuku. And she couldn't discuss their training sessions with anyone after, including Izuku. If there was something of value to be collected, Katsuki didn't want that listed in his rival's hero notebook.
"Wow, Katsuki, you act as if we're going to start having an affair." He hated how she teased him with no malicious intent. She felt free to throw jokes he wouldn't appreciate, showing no fear for any consequence.
In ways, Sakura was like a puzzle with broken pieces; every time he thought she could fit into one place, she showed a corner that went somewhere else.
This wasn't just a training session. This was a chance.
Katsuki had resolved that he would become the number one hero. But he needed to resolve his issues that had stacked onto him, first, it had been Izuku. Someone so helpless, who stood against him, and his strength, but also who challenged him and now had the power to outperform him if he allowed it.
Now there was Sakura. The girl who had dared to smile at him, while she lost her life saving his. That had been unforgettable and unforgivable in Katuski's eyes.
Nevertheless she had followed his instructions, and Katsuki knew that was a courtesy, because there was nothing he could do to intimidate her. That ability had fallen off his skills list when he entered high school.
"You're looking frustrated," She made that statement with an infuriating calm demeanor while ducking and knocking off his wrist. The sound of explosions was tearing through a rather beautiful morning light that was being ignored by the two.
"Shut up," Katsuki moved in for another attack, but there was a clear moment of distraction that wouldn't go unchecked by her. That's when Sakura sidestepped, throwing him further off balance, before swatting at his wrist before his palm could make contact with as little as her gym jacket. Then she stuck out her foot, causing him to stumble forward before planting down into the dirt.
Now at this point, it wasn't unusual for Sakura to reduce Katsuki to this state for the last fifteen minutes, but unlike the previous times where he would kick up a fuss and debris, he kept himself longer on the ground.
Even when he felt her shadow fall over him, he didn't move yet.
Sakura put her hands on her hips, "You getting up any time soon?"
"The hell is the point of this?!" He tossed some dirt in her direction to blind her, but Sakura covered her eyes with her arm. He didn't make any move, though.
"If you're just going to waste my time with this damn sparring, then-
"I wanted to examine your fighting style for myself before we started," Sakura said, rolling her shoulders. "You're aggressive and for the most part predictable,"
Well, the last part was a slight exaggeration; most of her classmates tended to move in the same set of directions, and Sakura just happened to develop the skill set to read and memorize them. But for Katsuki, it was a shame because he had more potential to diversify his arsenal. While everyone had a set tool set that was their quirks, the uses could vary if they bothered to look closer and think a little more inventively.
At time, she would marvel at the way Naruto managed to win his fights, especially in their genin years when he had a limited set of techniques but was able to utilize them to overcome so many obstacles. Driven by his rivalry with Sasuke, who was at the top of the pyramid of the three. And however much she despised this fact, Sakura knew she was at the bottom, but this pyramid was reversed. She wasn't holding anyone upright back then. She could barely keep herself afloat in the sea of shinobi.
"I am not predictable!" He shot up, grabbing Sakura by her jacket.
"I didn't mean you, I meant your fighting style," she sighed, stepping back. "Alright, now I want you to show me all your special moves."
Katuski's shoulders grew visibly tense, and he thought the wind might've messed with his hearing, "What?"
"You're special moves, show me," Sakura waved, gesturing for him to hurry on. "I want to assess all the weak points in them and how you can improve,"
If she put in a bit of effort, she would've been able to find a better way to communicate her intentions, but Sakura knew that it was pointless to attempt to placate Katsuki. Her words were just sparks of flame to his oil. It didn't matter if it was a flint spark or a flame thrower; either way the results would be the same. Katsuki would be set off regardless, so she felt no need to sugarcoat.
Katsuki eventually conceded to showing off his special attacks, from his explosive speed and flight, stun grenade, howitzer impact, and she had something to say for every single one of them.
Katsuki threw his hands back and blasted forward, explosions propelling him like a bullet. He zigzagged across the field, kicking up dust, his movements erratic and unpredictable. Or so he thought.
Sakura sidestepped at the last second, her hand snapping out to grip his wrist mid-flight. She yanked him off-course, sending him crashing into the dirt.
"You're wasting energy," she said, watching as he spat out gravel. "Your trajectory's too linear. Anyone with decent reflexes can read you."
Katsuki shoved himself up, teeth bared. "Like hell they can!"
"I just did."
Katsuki didn't give her time to gloat. He clapped his hands together, and a searing sphere of light erupted between them. She closed her eyes and moved, her foot lashing out in a sweeping kick that took Katsuki's legs out from under him before the flash could even fade.
"Predictable," she said, as he hit the ground. "You always telegraph it with that clap."
Katsuki's eye twitched. "I'm going to kill you!"
Before they were even close to the end, Katsuki was sweating bullets and trying to catch his breath from running away.
"The weather makes it harder for you, doesn't it?" She noted that he wasn't able to produce the same level of power, even if it was subtle.
"Shut your trap! It just takes me a minute to get warmed up,"
"Right," She turned her nose up, focused on the way the cold touched her. Snow would be coming soon. She held out her palm. "You can't change the weather. But it's not like you can use that as an excuse in a real fight."
She stepped once, Katsuki lost sight but felt nails pushing into his jugular the next second. "I'd only need a second to kill you,"
He turned at a whipspeed to get away from her, smacking her hand.
"Fire your AP Shot again,"
"Huh?"
Sakura wrung her wrist, "Most of your moves are pretty solid."
"That's not what you were blabbing earlier." Katsuki didn't know if he was angrier at the fact that she found flaws in the design of his moves or that she actually had input on them.
"Every weapon has a flaw, every attack has a weakness, but your moves are still solid. Ap shot especially. It's a good move, so let's look at how you can improve it."
"I don't need your-
"Shoot," Sakura waved in the direction of some rock formation. Katsuki bit his tongue and took his stance. He held aim, imagining a certain someone's pink head and felt a little warm when his bullets hit the target between the eyes and its forehead. For a moment, all she did was observe as the rocks crumbled.
"Can you fire them faster?" Katsuki could feel his nerves twitching under his skin.
"HA! You calling me slow!?"
Folding her arms, Sakura stepped around Katsuki, "You've had time to warm up, so you can't blame the weather."
A warmth zipped past her cheek after Katsuki fired an Ap Shot her way; she didn't need to even flinch. Even when his temper flared, Katsuki didn't fall into blind violence easily. He intended to be the best, and by now he had learned that the best needed perfect control.
And something that he wouldn't admit but expected the world to realize, Katsuki had no villainous intent.
"That," Sakura held her finger to his hand, "That's your weakness. I can tell what's coming the moment you do that. Unless you plan to get behind your opponent every time, this is gonna hinder you in a real fight."
"They're faster than my normal explosions, so shut the hell up!" Katsuki protested.
"Your normal explosions come with built-in smoke screen," Sakura countered, facing another Ap shot that whizzed past her body, once again leaving her unharmed. But she could see the veins in Katsuki's forehead growing with his frustration at her lack of response to his attempted intimidation tactics. "They obscure your opponent's senses. But these shots? They're powerful, but they're also small. Which makes their trajectory predictable. And unless you can fire them faster, they're just giving your enemy time to react."
Katsuki's jaw clenched. "I'm not slow."
"But to me, you are."
There was no doubt that he would heed her words like a challenge. Sakura knew that for Katsuki, she was an obstacle to beat. Everyone here was carrying the ambition to be great heroes, but they had to overcome not only themselves but each other. There was a constant sense of competition that went unspoken for. A common goal that couldn't be shared evenly amongst friends. Right now, she had set a standard that they needed to overcome.
"You want to beat me, right?" Her voice turned low. "And maybe the next villain who shows up with my level of strength? Then you've gotta step up."
Katsuki didn't answer, but his fists trembled.
"I'm sure you've noticed by now that it doesn't take much for you to outclass everyone around you. That can dull your edge. I'm not saying you don't push yourself. I'm saying you've underestimated your real limits."
Katsuki's lip curled. "You mean I should go wild like you did?"
It was just for an instant, but she flinched, "That was…different. That's all I'm going to say on the matter."
Materializing behind him, Sakura held the back of his neck again, their skin contact making him flinch, and took his wrist and held it out, too sudden for him to protest for about three seconds before he attempted to step away from her.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-
"Aim up," The cool tone was able to extinguish his temperament. She intended to show off something. He felt a snaking around his entire body, but he couldn't see the way there were marks dancing across his skin like living tattoos. And instead of resisting like his instincts told him to, he listened.
The explosion set off in a single palm, but the impact was huge. Reaching the sky and breaking through the clouds with the heat and smoke parting them like wide arms stretching out. Katsuki was used to the sound of his own explosions, but this was a deafening roar. It expanded still, scattering through the sky with intense pressure that shifted the conditions in the air. How do they know this?
Because a minute later, it started to rain lightly.
Despite having just handled what should've been a nuclear bomb, Katsuki didn't feel the usual strain on his body. He had made special gauntlets that could help his body manage the output, but he wasn't in his costume right now, and even so, he hadn't dislocated his shoulder or knocked anything else out of place. Even when the pressure of the release had dug both his and Sakura's feet into the solid rocky ground until their heels.
"Is that…what you did to Deku?"
"Similar," He turned to see the marks on Sakura's body receding, fading from black into the purple diamond on her forehead. "I can transfer some of my energy to you, and that seems to give your quirks a little boost."
"A little," It was a gross understatement. Katsuki stared at his palm, as if he was waiting for that feeling to touch him again. Izuku didn't mention what it felt like to be enveloped in that cloak. It was pure power. He winced when he felt cool hands touch the sides of his face, but he didn't push them away. He looked down, meeting Sakura's disturbingly still expression.
"Do your ears hurt?"
They were ringing, but he wouldn't admit such a weakness. "Don't touch me,"
But she held him firm, using her medical jutsu to repair signs of early damage that she could. "You're the last person we need to be deaf. You should look into getting your costume upgraded with something to protect your ears. With your quirk, you might suffer hearing loss."
Katsuki responded with a grunt and looked up, feeling the light drops on his face.
"That's the kind of power you should strive towards."
The kind of power that she held in the palm of her hand. She had just shown him what it could do if it belonged to him. For that reason, it was more eye-opening for Katsuki.
"Who taught you?" It was the first time Katsuki had taken a truly cool tone,
"My master."
"Master? You talk like some old woman. Was it in your village?" He saw her surprised expression and elaborated, "Deku. The nerd can't keep his mouth shut."
..
..
..
Katsuki hated Izuku's muttering habit; it always made his skin crawl. While you could hear everything he said, it was like he couldn't process what came out of his mouth. And it was the last thing Katsuki wanted to hear coming down the dormitory hallway like some haunted chant.
He rounded the corner to find Izuku standing alone in the kitchen, gesturing animatedly to an imaginary audience, his voice a rapid-fire stream of half-formed sentences.
"Okay, so maybe I should start with—no, no, that's too direct. Maybe if I just ask about the weather first? But that's stupid, why would I—wait, what if—"
Katsuki's eye twitched. "Oi. Deku."
Izuku yelped, nearly dropping the glass of water he'd been holding. "K-Kacchan! I didn't see you there!"
"No shit," Katsuki snapped, striding forward. "The hell are you doing, babbling to yourself like a damn lunatic?"
Any other time, he wouldn't even bother asking this; he wouldn't even bother touching on any form of interaction with Izuku beyond insults.
But he unwillingly discovered the secret between him and their idol, All Might. And Katsuki would not allow Izuku to do anything to mess it up. Especially if he seemed ready to go over the edge and accidentally mumbled something.
Izuku flushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was just… practicing."
"Practicing what? How to sound even more like a nerdy creep?"
"N-no! I just…" Izuku hesitated, then sighed. "I wanted to talk to Sakura. About her home. And… the memory we saw that time when she helped me control One for All."
Katsuki stilled. Memory?
Izuku must have seen the flicker of interest in his expression, because he kept talking, words tumbling out. "When we were training, I accidentally, well, I think it was an accident, stepped into one of her memories. It was like… like I was there. She was twelve, and she was training, but it wasn't like anything I've ever seen before…."
He explained in almost unnecessary detail, another poor habit of Izuku's, about what he had stumbled on. Where the bell test came from. Confirming it wasn't' something Sakura had just pulled out to make fools of the class.
Katsuki's brow furrowed. "What the hell, Deku. You could just… walk into her mind?"
"Not walk exactly, more like…" Izuku launched into an explanation so detailed it made Katsuki's teeth ache. He barely resisted the urge to throttle him, but for once, he let the nerd ramble.
Because this? This was interesting.
"So I wanted to find out more," Izuku finished, breathless. "About where she came from, what kind of training she did as a kid, and-
"Whatever," Katsuki cut him off, shoving past to yank open the fridge. "Not my problem."
But as he grabbed a drink and turned to leave.
His mind was far from still, though. Twelve years old. Training like that. What the hell kind of place had Sakura Haruno come from?
And more importantly, what else was she hiding?
..
..
..
The rain had finally stopped and the skies were starting to clear from the explosions' aftermath in ash and smoke. Sakura had turned her head up, letting the water drip down, from where Katsuki stood, it looked like she had been crying.
"I did grow up in a village," Sakura admitted, keeping her head tilted high. "It's where I was taught everything I know. Where I had my friends and family…"
Katsuki could sense the longing even from this distance and couldn't help but bite out. "If you miss it so much, why don't you just go back to the sticks?"
"Because I can't go back there anymore," The way she said it sounded too easy. As if she didn't understand that she just dropped a stack of weights onto his shoulders.
Katsuki didn't know what to say. He wasn't built for this, helping someone deal with grief, loss or pain, something that couldn't be resolved with a fight. So he did the only thing he could: he pivoted back to what he understood.
"That technique you used," he growled. "The regeneration shit, we made a deal, so spill."
Sakura nodded, moving on rather disturbingly calm. "It's Mitotic Cell Regeneration. It rebuilds my body from the cellular level. So when I'm injured, I can heal instantly,"
"Like those damn nomu,"
"Not quite," Sakura interupted, "It shortens my lifespan. That's why I don't pull it out unless I have to."
Katsuki's eyes widened. "What?"
Stretching her arms out, she explained, "There are only so many times that you can actually regenerate the cells like that, so in turn for speeding up the process, I lose time off my life. It's not a major issue as I only use it in extreme cases. Is that the weak point you wanted to find in me?"
Even now, she seemed cocky even when exposing herself like this. It was likely the most vulnerable and crucial dent in her armor, but it wasn't something he could even use, and she knew it.
"What is going on here?!" Aizawa's voice cut through the tension.
Katsuki turned to see not just him, but half the damn faculty storming toward them: Chiyo, Midnight, Present Mic, Cementoss, Toshinori, Nezu, and even Vlad. All of them looked like they'd just sprinted across campus.
Shouta's hair was floating, his eyes blazing red when he spotted them. "What are you two doing?"
"Training."
"We thought the school was under attack!"exclaimed Midnight.
Katsuki opened his mouth to snarl back, but Sakura beat him to it.
She pointed at him, deadpan. "He did it."
Katsuki's brain short-circuited, his jaw dropped in disbelief at her childish gesture pointed at him. "WHAT?!"
The teachers were looking between them. Toshinori coughed into his hand, hiding what was definitely a laugh.
Shouta on the other hand, had wrapped his scarf around Katsuki's body, pulling it tight. "Bakugou. Care to explain?"
Katsuki's eye twitched. "I-she!"
"He wanted to show off."
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU FIVEHEAD"
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-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (91, 92, 93, 94)
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter ( 40, 41, 42,)
-Crossroads of Fate chapter 31, 32, 33, 34
-Through the Looking Glass chapter 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44
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-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia (PART 1 & 2)
- Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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