CHAPTER 89:
"Whoa!, wait, wait, Kacchan hold on!" Izuku swerved mid-air, avoiding another hefty explosion. His face was covered in traces of ash, and his hair frizzed with sweat. But Katsuki was relentless in his assault, unwilling to give him a moment's breath before he returned to his onslaught. In a normal battle, this method would be seen as tactical to avoid giving your opponent a chance to counter; however, given the context of this fight, it was akin to a dog chasing a cat. Simply taking some personal joy in making him run around.
And Sakura and Toshinori stood to the side of the gymnasium, out of firing range but with a clear view of the two sparring.
Katsuki had been trying to revive Izuku's quirk, Black Whip, but it seemed to have gone into hibernation since the last time Sakura had coaxed it out. Izuku thought of his powers as being sealed behind a vault, and he had to figure out how to unlock it on his own. That's why they had been filling the slots for the gymnasiums for the last three nights.
The previous two, Katsuki had left early because Sakura kept insisting on her 'snail methods', as he put it, to get Izuku's power to come back again. However, Toshinori had a different goal. To make sure the power didn't come out in that same rage as before. Through training, Izuku had grown accustomed to using One for All's power, but his physique wasn't able to develop as fast as that control, and he still had to gauge the percentage. The issue was that with black-whip, he still lacked that control; it was like he had been brought to the starting line of a new level.
Katsuki's eyes were lit like a flint sparking, looking down at Izuku as he kept dodging his attacks and form. Despite the sadistic entertainment, it was also frustrating for Katsuki, who wasn't reaping his desired result thanks to Izuku's passive approach to this sparring session. Mirroring the previous nights. Any other time, he knew Izuku would have reciprocated his ferocity, instead of taking this cowering stance.
"Stop holding back, damn nerd!" His voice carried across the field as he pulled back, watching Izuku land lopsidedly, "You wanna control this shit power of yours or not?"
Izuku wiped sweat from his brow, his chest heaving in gulps of air that weren't filled with ash. "I am trying, Kacchan, but-
"Trying?!" Katsuki barred his canines. "You're running away!"
"Maybe because he's being chased by a mad dog," Sakura muttered, but not quietly enough that it couldn't be picked up in the echo of the gymnasium.
"Huh, what was that, Fivehead!? You want a piece of me?"
She shrugged. "There goes the barking again,"
"HA!? COME HERE AND SAY THAT."
"Woof!"
Toshinori looked at the three students bickering in the middle of the gymnasium. They were now bonded by the biggest secret of heroes that had been carried quietly through the centuries until it was handed to Izuku. Instead of passing on that secret to a single person as those before, Toshinori somehow ended up splitting it into pieces. He wasn't sure if that was a mistake yet. But they were attempting to advance this power together. And with the state of the world, it seemed like a necessary risk.
But he felt better being able to stand there and supervise before another incident was incited. He was still a teacher, and they were still students.
"Young Bakugou, we're trying to ensure the power doesn't emerge unpredictably. Rushing this could be dangerous."
"Tch." Katsuki rolled his shoulders, muscles coiled tight as he flexed his fingers out. "Dangerous is not being able to use it when it counts." He jabbed a finger at Izuku, who stiffened in turn.
Izuku looked at his hand; it felt as if this power that had broken through the damn was locked away again, and he didn't know how to control the flow even if it escaped. He also wanted to learn how to use this power as soon as possible, especially before the next one emerged from the lineup. Because the thought of those powers toppling on top of each other inside of Izuku made him think of an egg exploding in a microwave. Him being the egg.
So he agreed that he needed to find a way to grasp this ability and apparently, this was Katsuki's definition of helping.
"It wasn't a bad suggestion, but it doesn't look like you'll be able to force this particular power out."
Izuku blinked, shoulders slumping. "I-I don't know what else we can do,"
Sakura stepped forward, pulling off her gloves. "You're treating it like a switch you need to flip. But it's more like… a muscle. You can't force it to move in a certain way before it's ready, or it'll be painful."
Katsuki rolled his eyes, watching the two, "We've been at this for three days, and jack shit's happened."
Sakura ignored him, keeping her focus on Izuku. Taking his hand, she started to trace over his glove, "The vestige told you more quirks are coming, right?"
"Yeah. And I-I want to be able to control them before another one appears. I need to be able to control all of them as soon as possible. If you can help me with that… I'd really appreciate it."
"Don't worry, Izuku, I'll help you, I promise." There was a rather long pause between the two, just staring at each other as if they were trying to reach for words but couldn't find them.
Katsuki made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. Breaking the spell. "God, could you two be any more nauseating?"
After taking a few steps away from one another, Sakura cleared her throat. "Look, control over power like this doesn't just happen overnight. It took me three months just to get past the first phase of my healing training."
Izuku's jaw dropped. For everything he learned about Sakura, there was still the impression of a prodigy in his mind. "Three months?"
"Yep, and that was just the basics." She popped the 'p', amused by his awe. "But once I got past that hurdle, things started falling into place."
"So what do I do?"
"First? Stop worrying about control." She poked his forehead. "You're so caught up in how to use it that you're not even letting it out. Forget about mastering it right now. Just focus on drawing it out, like uncorking a bottle."
"And then?"
"Have you done meditating like I told you to?"
Izuku started fidgeting with his hands, "Um, I tried! But just sitting still, it's hard for me to stay focused, and I end up thinking about…everything and stuff,"
The muttering habit didn't come without credit to his mind, which had been a mass of chaos ever since he was young. Katsuki barked out a laugh. "Oh, great. More of that guru bullshit."
Sakura shot him a dry look. "It's what I do to maintain control."
She explained before that her powers included controlling the flow of energy within her body. Holding up her hand, she produced a bit of chakra in her palm, placing it over a bruise on Izuku's face and watching it vanish.
"Using my power is like putting a thread through the needle every time I throw a punch. Doing that in battle seems impossible, right?" She paused, allowing them to contemplate the degree she was trying to stress, "It's taxing on the body and mind."
"So if you lose focus, that means your power falls apart." There was an edge of eagerness to Katsuki's tone, like a child tasting sugar for the first time. It was also off-putting. He knew that every quirk had a weakness, and he knew nearly everyone's in class, mostly because they were willing to share them but there was still a lot about Sakura's quirk that was still an enigma, despite how much she had revealed.
He was more concerned about learning what he could use to finally beat her. And Sakura seemed to know his intentions as well because she just gave him a cheeky grin, sticking out her tongue.
"Sorry, you're four years too late to us that against me. Now using my power is as easy as breathing. So you can't count on that as a weakness."
Katsuki clicked his tongue, crossing his arms, "It doesn't matter, I'm still gonna beat you."
"Sure…."
Sometimes Sakura wondered if the reason she enjoyed riling Katsuki was because he wore his heart on his sleeves, as well as his ego. And it reminded her of Ino. The only one in her world who wanted to rival her.
"Sakura. I will never let you beat me, no matter how hard you try."
'Maybe she's looking for a new rival by now?'
She walked away from the conversation by coming behind Izuku. She placed her hands on his shoulders, feeling his muscles pull tight under her touch.
"Um, Sakura are you gonna do that again?"
"No, we're going to do something else." He tried to turn his head but stopped when he heard her say, "You need to focus for this. Picture it again, that moment when Blackwhip first came out,"
If he felt there was a choice, Izuku would never want to relive that memory again. He was still weighed by it, like chains that dragged along his every move. The reason he hesitated to go on the offensive against Katsuki during their sparring sessions.
But instead of falling down that rabbit hole, he tried to focus on something else, the reassurance from Sakura's hold. The same hold that protected him when he felt like a helpless feather in a hurricane. He took himself back to that moment in time.
.
"They look like whips!"
"THAT LOOKS TERRIFYING!"
"What's happening to Midoriya?"
"Deku! You have to stop!"
Grimacing, Izuku tugged at his bottom lip until he felt a soothing sensation in the back of his head. Sakura ran her chakra slowly through from Izuku's head, to his neck and shoulder, down to his arms and wrist.
"Imagine the power flowing through,"
Izuku attempted to follow her words, trying to loosen his grip on his worries and doubts. Attempting to find that flow Sakura spoke of. Trying to trace over the feeling that her power left behind.
"Open your eyes." That's when he saw it.
His wrist was wrapped around in black, the energy coming off was uneven and small, like sparks of uncertainty. But it was enough for the start. This made Izuku ecstatic.
Unlike the last time, when Sakura had to use her chakra to pull back the power, this time it was barely visible and had manifested through his own efforts. Somehow, Izuku managed to push the door of the safe a crack. There was nothing more than a sliver of power he could produce, but he realized that it was his when Sakura pulled away, and it remained.
"Keep practicing with that focus and you should have this quirk under control in no time,"
However, she knew to cover his mouth when Izuku's eyes started trembling, a tell that he was about to go on another ramble. "And don't overthink it,"
Katsuki didn't look impressed. "Great. He got a sparkler to pop out. What the hell are we supposed to do with that?"
"First, he learns to summon it. Then, he learns to fight with it. And most importantly…" She turned back to Izuku to send him a message meant only for him. "He can't be afraid of it."
"Well done, Young Midoriya." Toshinori praised, coming up to them.
"You know, All Might, I still don't understand why you never knew this could happen. The power was originally yours,"
"One for All was passed down through many users, Young Haruno, and this is the first time it's ever given more than one quirk," Toshinori confessed that he only assumed the quirk could pass down the accumulation of strength from its users, nothing that went beyond the physical, and certainly nothing that involved an accumulation of quirks.
"Young Bakugou's theory is, this might have something to do with All for One."
Holding her chin, Sakura drifted. Her own knowledge of quirks wasn't that much more than the public's, and she had assumed it was similar to physical attributes alone. But perhaps it also possessed something similar to chakra. Chakra had the ability to stitch together the mind, body, and spirit; this showed there were quirks that could also work to that extent.
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "But All For One's been neutralized. And since when do quirks link up into subconsciousness like this? How deep does this go?"
"We… we have wondered if the vestiges are remnants of the past users. Like… fragments of their memories, their wills."
Toshinori nodded slowly. "It's a phenomenon unique to One For All. The quirk carries echoes of those who held it before."
Sakura's gaze darkened. "Then what about All For One?"
Katsuki stiffened. "The hell are you getting at?"
"If One For All leaves traces of its users… does All For One do the same?"
Toshinori's breath caught. "You mean… a link between All For One and every user of One For All?"
"Exactly. He gave the first user his quirk. What if that created a bond? A way to track them? Or worse…" Her eyes locked onto Izuku's in a way that startled him. "A way to slip into their thoughts."
The gymnasium suddenly felt a lot colder than before. They could hear the wind outside, the way the trees rustled like they were trying to listen in on them.
"All Might, is it easy for you to find Izuku when you're looking for him?"
Toshinori seemed in thought, "I'm not certain,"
"I might just be reaching, but if Katsuki's theory is right, and One for All is reacting to All for One. Does that mean it knows his intentions? What he wants to do, like say escape from prison, or that it will be inevitable, and Izuku will have to face him?"
There was no way for them to know the answer. Not until it was too late.
Toshinori looked at the time on his phone. "That's enough for today. You should head back before curfew."
"Or before Aizawa calls on us,"
He watched the three as they exited the building. Studying Sakura. Yes, the start pupil and problem child of Class A, superseding Izuku who's own quirk would destroy his body and land him in the nurses office. More troubling than Katsuki and his temper. And she was nearly a complete enigma. Beyond being found by Shouta while out on patrol. A fact he wasn't privy to until very recently.
In fact, Toshinori had attempted (and failed) to find out everything he could about Sakura, beyond her actions of reprimand and correction. But there was none. No family, no friends beyond the school walls. Perhaps the reason she carried herself as she did was that she no longer had anything.
But Toshinori was certain that she had been well nurtured. Sakura lacked for nothing in skills, even in her training methods. And then there was that theory.
The idea that All For One might still have some lingering connection to One For All through the quirk itself was not something Toshinori had ever considered. And yet, the moment she said it, it made a terrible kind of sense. The thought dragged him back to Tartarus.
To him. It wasn't that he wished to see that man, not even in his nightmares. However, All For One stood at the podium, holding the title of Number One just as Toshinori had. And the truth, this meant they would always be at eye level with one another regardless of their desire to sooner tear our their own hearts than be considered equals. Even if they were on different sides of the coin in society.
However, Toshinori could also not deny this for himself. He wanted to, and needed to see that man behind bars, bounded and powerless, after all the years he endured to face up to a single person. That was the true absurdity of it all. The fact that a single person could make the world shift so drastically overnight. And who still controlled so much that any words that left his lips needed to be recorded and burned into the memory of everyone watching his bonds, so that he wouldn't get even a second to cut them loose.
All For One had been strapped to his chair, his face a ruin of scar tissue where eyes should have been. And yet, Toshinori had felt the weight of his attention, as palpable as a hand around his throat.
"I'm telling you, All Might," All For One may not have eyes anymore, but even through that ruined scar tissue across his face, Toshinori could see that for the first time the man was lost in thought instead of present, where he could fully intimidate and weaken others. "Perhaps this is my punishment. To have the ability to take every quirk in the world… except the one I truly want."
One For All.
There wasn't so much as a twitch in case he could feel it behind all those padded vests and the enhanced glass. It shouldn't have even come as a surprise, when all he ever strived for was-
"There is something inside that girl,I felt it. Something sinister. A power greater than even your own. It's almost… divine."
Toshinori could only sincerely hope now that all their efforts to keep the monster locked away would hold. Because the ones who would be in danger, as he saw it, were nothing more than chicks, barely able to see the world.
..
..
..
Nighttime at UA could've been scenic. The campus was now lit with the lanterns, creating the pathways for students and teachers to follow, that was almost enchanting. Despite that, it was Sakura, Katsuki, and Izuku taking the rather lengthy walk towards the dorm, in pace with each other. There was a resounding tranquility and silence.
For about a minute.
Katsuki stomped ahead, his shoulders rigid with irritation, while Izuku trailed behind, glancing between him and Sakura. His nervous energy felt by both of them.
"You know, Bakugou, you could probably do more with your quirk too if you tried,"
Izuku didn't dare breathe and just looked nervously between the crossfire he was in. Katsuki had also stopped in his tracks, turning his head slowly around.
"The hell did you just say?"
Sakura didn't flinch. "Your control's impressive, but it's rigid. You rely too much on raw power. There's room to refine it."
"Like hell there is!" Katsuki snarled. "You think you know my Quirk better than me? I'm not like DEKU!"
"Of course not. You only have one quirk to worry about, he's going to have…nine?"
Again, like an animal backing away from a hunter, Izuku cautiously took a step to get out of the line of fire without drawing attention to himself. They might not be friends anymore, but Izuku knew that Katsuki was prideful about his quirk, and he refused to take any criticism involving it. Constructive or otherwise, you would still get burned. Badly.
For all her composure and discipline, Sakura had a mischievous side that showed especially around Katsuki to take the opportunity to aggravate him in some way.
"So that's how you wanna play it, huh? Think you know my quirk better than me?! Fine. We'll duke it out and I'll show you how much I know!"
Izuku's eyes lit up, his previous concern forgotten. "Wait, are you really going to help Kacchan, too? That's amazing! Can I-
"NO, DEKU!" Katsuki whirled on him, sparks threatening to jump out of his palm. "This isn't a damn group project! No one knows my power better than me, and no one's teaching me shit about it!"
He jabbed a finger at Sakura. "You wanna act like some all-knowing guru? Fine. I'll blast that title right off your forehead and show you what my Quirk's really capable of!"
Katsuki kicked off, trying to leave indents of his boots into the ground. Izuku breathed again when he was out of sight.
"Sakura, did you just ask Kachaan if you could train him?"
"Well, you're not really going to need me to meditate and bring out your power now since I gave you the basics. You have to do that on your own. And I'm not sure how long that might take, so I figured I'd use Katsuki as a stand-in. Eri's going to start training too."
"That seems like a lot on your plate."
Sakura shook her head, "I prefer it like this…keeping busy,"
Because when your plate is full, you don't notice what's missing on it.
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